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Irenaeus of Lugdunum : a study of his te 



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3 1924 029 267 188 



IRENAEUS OF LUGDUNUM 



FOREWORD 

NO early Christian writer has deserved better of the 
whole Church than Irenaeus. His refutation of 
Gnosticism is perhaps the least of his claims upon the 
attention of the student. Gnosticism would doubtless 
have met its fate if Irenaeus had never written, and for 
the modern reader its grotesque speculations have little 
interest. But the great work of Irenaeus offers us far 
more than the polemic of a by-gone age. It is a first 
effort to grapple on a large scale with the problems of 
the rising faith, and to construct the outlines of a 
Christian theology. It is a storehouse of materials for 
the early history of the canon, the creed, and the episco- 
pate. It contains not a few passages of singular beauty 
and far-reaching insight, which are hardly surpassed in 
any other Christian writing, ancient or modern. 

Dr Montgomery Hitchcock's book is an attempt to 
introduce the student to the teaching of Irenaeus. Any 
real endeavour to recall our age to the treasures hidden 
in the great writers of the ancient Church may be heartily 
welcomed, and it is to be hoped that Dr Hitchcock's 
work may succeed in leading some who have hitherto 
overlooked the claims of Irenaeus to study for themselves 
that great forerunner of the best theology of the later 
Church. 



H. B. SWETE. 



Cambridge, 

Easter, 1914. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPS. 

I. The Life of Irenaeus .... 

II. The Teachers of Irenaeus 

III. The Treatise AGAINST THE Heresies 

IV. The Education of Man 

V. The Rule of Faith 

VI. The Omnipotent Father . 

VII. Man's Knowledge of God 
VIII. The Doctrine of the Trinity 

IX. The Incarnate Word .... 

X. The Incarnation and the Atonement . 

XI. Biblical Views, Interpretation of Scrip 

TURK, ETC 

XII. The Canon of the New Testament 

XIII. Notes of the Church .... 

XIV. The Ministry, Continuity and Orders 

XV. The Sacraments of the Church . 

XVI. Psychology, Salvation, Future Hope . 
XVII. The Apostolic Preaching ... 

XVIII. Gnosticism Ancient and Modern . 
XIX. Creed and Conclusion .... 
Excursus. Latin Translation 
Bibliography 
Index .... 



PAGES 

I 

19 
35 

52 

65 
78 

95 
106 
127 
158 

183 
211 
242 
251 
264 
283 
312 
321 
340 
347 
358 
359 



ADDENDA ET CORRIGENDA 

p. 2, 1. I, lit. instructed in the faith, /xaSriTevBeii. 

1. 5, in TJ TrpitlTTJ iifi,Qv 7l\lKl<f. 

1. 13, Bury (Students Roman Empire p. 579) says "A.D. 155 is 
only a guess of Waddington, which has been too hastily 
accepted." He suggests date of martyrdom 166 a.d., 
"almost certainly under Marcus.'' 
1. 17, irois wv In (Letter to Florinus). 
1. 20, about A.D. 120 (Lightfoot). 
p. 6, 1. 7, comma after "proceeds." 

note 2, I /or 6. 
p. 8, 1. 13, read "in which case"/or "so that." 
p. 10, 1. 6. Historia Francorum, I. 29. 

1. 14, see Duchesne's Pastes Episcopaux. 
p. 12, 1. 2, comma after "custom." 

1. 18, v.l. "forty hours" (Bingham, removing stop after Tcffirapd/toi'Ta). 
Harvey, Stieren and Massuet read as in text, 
note I, 357 for 356. 
p. 16, 1. 22, comma after "Basil." 
p. 23, 1. 19, comma after "suffering." 
p. 25, note 4, cf. Lightfoot's Essays on Supernatural Religion v. Insert 

"probably" after "This is." 
p. 26, 1. 5, cf. Charles' Apocalypse of Baruch, p. 54. 
p. 30, 1. 27, "can we he'' for "are we." 

p. 32, 1. 1, lit. making a prelude of, or preparation for, irpoot/iiai^o/iipovs 
TTiv d<j>$ap(rlav, cf. Eusebius H.E, V. 1. 4, of the devil, 
Trpooifuaf6ii.evos tjSt) ttjp dSeus fUWovuay (<re<r9ai vapovalav 
airov, 
1. 9, hv^pl^et, lit. mocks at. 
p. 36, 2, Dogmengeschichte I. 188. 
p. 38, 1. 9, lit. "truer than the truth itself." 



CHAPTER I 

THE LIFE OF IRENAEUS 

Materials for a Life of Irenaeus are so meagre that 
the bare outline of his career, which is given in detached 
portions, must be filled in by the imagination. The 
same reserve in his writings conceals a personality of 
much charm and many gifts. The little he says of 
himself makes one desire to know more of one who was 
a scholar and a saint. It is held that he was a Greek 
from the mode of his thought and the form of his name. 
It is generally inferred that he was a native of Smyrna 
from the fact that he was a disciple of Polycarp, to whom 
he refers in expressions of love and veneration. 

His early associations with that Apostolic man alone 
would make him an interesting character. In a fragment 
of his work preserved by Eusebius^ we have an invaluable 
account of this intimacy. Writing to Florinus he says 
that he could even describe the very place in which 
Polycarp was wont to sit and converse, his goings-out 
and comings-in, the mode of his life, his personal 
appearance, the discourses he delivered to the people, 
the manner in which he would speak of his intercourse 
with John and the others who had seen the Lord. From 
a passage in the treatise Against the Heresies'^ where he 

1 H. E. V. 20. 2 ni. 3. 4. 

H. I. I 



2 The Life of Irenaeus [cH. 

states, "And Polycarp was not only educated by the 
apostles and frequently in the society of many who had 
seen the Lord, but he was also appointed by the apostles 
to be the bishop of the Church in Smyrna, wherefore I 
said 'in my early youth,' for he lived to a great age," 
we may approximately infer the relative ages of the 
master and pupil. The date of Polycarp's martyrdom is, 
in some measure, an indication of the date of the birth 
of Irenaeus, for it was not long after his visit to Rome, 
on which he was probably accompanied by Irenaeus, 
that the old man suffered. The death of Polycarp, 
described in the letter of the Smyrnaeans, is assigned by 
Lightfoot to A.D. 155. It is probable that he perished 
between A.D. 150 and 156, and being eighty and six 
years old at the time, was born before A.D. 70. 

Irenaeus only knew him in the latter years of his life 
when he himself was " in his first age," and " a mere boy." 
The date of the birth of Irenaeus is accordingly assigned 
by Harvey to A.D. 130, by Lipsius to A.D. 137, but by Zahn 
to A.D. 115. Ropes' date A.D. 126 corresponds more 
nearly with the statement of Irenaeus that John beheld 
his vision "almost in our own generation, towards the 
end of the reign of Domitian^" who perished A.D. 96, 
if one allows thirty years to a generation. It is also to 
be noticed that Irenaeus extends " the first age of youth " 
to forty years ^ The Moscow postscript of the letter of 
the Smyrnaeans, accepted as genuine by Bishop Light- 
foot, states that a certain Gains copied this letter from 
the writings of Irenaeus a former pupil of the holy 
Polycarp, and that this Irenaeus was living in Rome at 
the time of that saint's martyrdom and had many pupils, 
and that on the very day when Polycarp was martyred 

' Adv. Haer. v. 30. 3. ^ II. 22. 5. 



i] The Life of Irenaeus 3 

in Smyrna, Irenaeus heard a voice as of a trumpet saying, 
" Polycarp has borne testimony." 

There is much probability that Irenaeus spent some 
years of his early manhood in Rome, where first he 
encountered the Gnostics, studied the works of Justin, 
to which he shows much indebtedness, laid the foundation 
of his great work against the heresies, and made that 
acquaintance with the history of the Roman Church and 
creed which is conspicuous in his writings^ It is not 
unlikely that he had an opportunity of witnessing that 
impressive scene in the church between Polycarp and 
Anicetus, Bishop of Rome, which he describes so vividly 
in his letter to Victor. 

What, then, brought Irenaeus to Lugdunum, the 
modern Lyons, of which he became bishop? The 
accounts are conflicting. Gregory of Tours, not the 
most reliable authority, declares that he was sent by 
Polycarp to Lugdunum. Mr F. E. Warren in The 
Liturgy and Ritual of the Celtic Church hazards the 
statement that "Pothinus, the first Bishop of Lyons, 
had come directly from that country (Asia Minor) 
bringing with him Irenaeus, the disciple of Polycarp, the 
disciple of John." It is not unlikely, however, that 
Irenaeus remained in Rome until A.D. 164 when a local 
persecution, under Marcus Aurelius, silenced for ever 
the voices of several Christian teachers, and among them 
that of the illustrious Justin Martyr. The young student 
was, therefore, compelled to take refuge in the neighbour- 
ing Church of Gaul, which had an early and close 
connection with the Churches of the East. 

But whether Galilean Christianity came originally 
from an eastern or a western source is a debated question. 

' in. 3. 3. 

I — 2 



4 The Life of Irenaeus [ch. 

The ready communication of the towns in Southern Gaul 
(especially Marseilles) with Italy and the Mediterranean 
by sea inclines one to hold the Eastern origin. But 
L'Abb^ L. Duchesne in Pastes Apiscopaux de I'ancienne 
Gaule maintains that the connection of the Christians 
of the Rhone valley with the East was slight, and that 
the idea of such a connection was largely based upon the 
legends of subsequent ages. But he allows that " among 
all the ships that entered the port of Massilia in the 
earliest age of Christianity some would have had evan- 
gelists on board." The greater number of these would, 
however, have made their way up the interior towards 
Lyons and Vienne, where we find the earliest settlements 
of the Church in Gaul. There are several things that 
point to an old-standing friendship between the Churches 
of Asia and Phrygia and these Christian settlements in 
Gaul. The Christians in Vienne and Lyons addressed 
a circular "to the Brethren throughout Asia and 
Phrygian" Among the martyrs of Lyons we find the 
names of Attalus of Pergamos and Alexander, a phy- 
sician, from Phrygia. Some little time afterwards the 
martyrs of Lyons sent a letter containing their views 
on the Montanist heresy and defending their Asiatic 
brethren, to Eleutherus bishop of Rome by the hands of 
Irenaeus, and another epistle on the same subject to the 
Asiatics themselves. It is probable, therefore, that if 
the Church in Lyons was not the daughter of the Church 
in Smyrna " the Christianity of Gaul," as Lightfoot said, 
"was in some sense the daughter of the Christianity 
of Asia Minor." 

To Lyons, accordingly, Irenaeus came, bringing 
testimonials and letters to the venerable Pothinus, bishop 
' Eusebius H. E.\. i . 



i] The Life of Irenaeus , 5 

of that city. There is reason to believe that he was 
admitted to the priesthood by that bishop. Jerome 
describes him as " the Presbyter of the Bishop Pothinus 
who ruled the Church of Lugdunum in Gaul," and 
Eusebius calls him "the Presbyter of the Church of 
Lugdunum." In the office of presbyter Irenaeus dis- 
tinguished himself by his zeal, tact and scholarship, and 
rose so high in the estimation of bishop and people that 
he was regarded as the most suitable man to succeed 
the aged Pothinus. But in the year A.D. 177 a storm 
of persecution broke over the south of Gaul, and the 
Christians of Vienne and Lyons suffered. The narrative 
of their trials is recorded in a letter they sent to the 
brethren in Asia and Phrygia preserved in the fifth book 
of Eusebius' history. Thrown into prison the leading 
Christians of these communities awaited the advent of 
the Roman governor and death. Among them was 
Pothinus, a veteran of ninety years, Sanctus deacon of 
Vienne, Attalus of Pergamos, Alexander of Phrygia and 
Blandina. Their letters intervening in the dispute 
between Eleutherus and the Montanists, no doubt in the 
interests of peace and the Church, have already been 
referred to. 

Of these letters Irenaeus, who was, fortunately for 
the Church, passed over by the Roman government, was 
made the bearer. Whatever may have been the purport 
of this communication we can hardly believe that Ire- 
naeus would support views which were contrary to the 
ideas of Church life and doctrine that are to be found in 
his treatise. Of course he may have thought differently 
upon this subject in his earlier days. He was a Chiliast. 
But it is more probable that it was from his early 
connections with Asia Minor and from Papias, Justin 



6 The Life of Irenaeus [ch. 

and Barnabas that he imbibed his ideas of the millennium, 
which seem to have been diffused from a single source, 
than from the Montanists. He also held that the gift of 
miracles and the prophetic charisma were still in the 
Church'. He describes "the spiritual man," adopting 
the Montanist distinction of" Spiritales " and " Psychici''." 
But he proceeds "the spiritual man will judge those 
who create schisms being without the love of God, and 
who do not consider the unity of the Church, but on the 
slightest pretext will rend and divide, and, as far as they 
can, destroy the great and glorious body of Christ'." 
As the Montanists were the active opponents of Church 
government and the principal aspirants to prophetical 
gifts the reference is evidently to them. Irenaeus' 
position seems to have been " central " between the 
Montanists and their opponents, holding some of the 
views of those people while rejecting others, and main- 
taining the compatibility of certain views on subjects 
which were matters of pious opinion with sound church- 
manship. 

The presbyter carries his letter, whatever its contents 
may have been, safely to Rome and is received by 
Eleutherus the bishop. To him he hands the following in- 
troduction from the martyrs of Gaul. " Father Eleutherus, 
we wish you joy and continued prosperity in the Lord. 
We send our brother and colleague with these letters to 
you, and we commend him to your favour as a zealous 
adherent of the covenant of Christ. If position conferred 
goodness we would emphatically recommend him, 
who is what his name implies, a man of peace, as a 
presbyter of the Church." This greeting from the 

1 11. 32. 4, III. i. 9. ■■= IV. 33. 6. 3 IV. 33. 7. 



i] The Life of Irenaeus 7 

# 

representatives of one national Church to another is an 
illustration of Tertullian's resonant phrase, " contesseratio 
hospitalitatis^" the bond and token of friendship between 
the Churches. 

We have no facts on which to construct a picture of 
that interview, but we may draw certain inferences. It 
can hardly be doubted that Eleutherus, who had been a 
deacon of Anicetus, gladly welcomed the presbyter of 
Pothinus and the pupil of Polycarp. It is probable too 
that he was impressed by the personality of the envoy 
whose previous connection with the East and Rome 
marked him out as a man with a history, and whose 
present position in the Church made him a man with a 
future. His previous studies under Justin must have 
brought him into touch with many of the leading Roman 
clergy. And his mission to the bishop having been 
accomplished, he would have been duly escorted by 
some of these, his own pupil, Hippolytus afterwards 
Bishop of Portus, among them, on the way to Ostia and 
home. Arriving in the Christian quarter of the city of 
Lugdunum he learnt the harrowing details of the execu- 
tions that had taken place during his absence, rumours 
of which may have reached him when abroad. The 
gruesome details of this baptism of blood in which 
Pothinus, Maturus, Sanctus, Attalus, Alexander and 
Blandina were baptized are related in the letter of the 
Galilean Churches inserted by Eusebius in the fifth book 
of his history, and the persecution is assigned by him to 
the " seventeenth year of the reign of Antoninus Verus." 
This is intended for L. Aurelius Verus, who was emperor 
with Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. The seventeenth year 

^ De Praescr. %a. 



8 The Life of Irenaeus [ch. 

of M. Aurelius and Lucius Verus gives the date A.D. 177, 
an important landmark in the life of Irenaeus\ 

After or during the persecution the Christians who 
survived met and elected Irenaeus to the vacant post. 
The presbyter of Pothinus thus became " bishop of the 
paroikiai in GauP" and "leader of the brethren in that 
country'." His consecration, however, presents a difficulty. 
There may have been a bishop of Vienne, the neigh- 
bouring city, as there was a deacon. If so, he might 
have performed the ceremony. But Bishop Adon's list 
of Bishops (ixth century), which begins with Crescens, 
assigns the fourth place to Verus who attended the 
Council of Aries (A.D. 3 1 4), so that there could hardly 
have been a bishop in Vienne one hundred and thirty 
years before. Failing a bishop of Vienne he may have 
returned to Rome to be consecrated by Eleutherus, out 
of pure necessity not out of any consideration for the 
potior principalitas of Rome, or he may have been 
consecrated by some of the eastern bishops. 

Irenaeus cannot have been a young man at this time, 
and his work in Lugdunum, to say nothing of his 
acquaintance with the philosophies and heresies of his 
time, had fitted him, above all his contemporaries, for 
the episcopal office. In addition to his many qualifica- 
tions he had also before his mind the example and 
counsel of the great Polycarp. Indeed, the brief record 
of his old master's passion, enshrined in the circular 
letter of the Church of Smyrna read in the Churches of 
Gaul in the days of Gregory of Tours on the nativity 
of the saint, is said to have been copied out and studied 

> Dr Abbott {Expositor) suggests that this persecution took place in the 
reign of Antoninus Pius, and should be dated A.D. 155. 
' Eus. H. E. V. 23. 3 ibid. V. 24. 



i] The Life of Irenaeus 9 

• 

by Irenaeus that he might have it imprinted on his 
heart. It is a matter of regret that Irenaeus did not 
give us a complete list and collection of the many letters 
which Polycarp wrote to the neighbouring Churches, a 
work which Polycarp himself performed for Ignatius. 
There is, however, an invaluable reference in the treatise* 
to Polycarp's letter to the Philippians. " There is also," 
he said, "an excellent letter from Polycarp to the 
Church in Philippi, from which any one who wishes, and 
who cares for his salvation, may learn the nature of 
Polycarp's faith and exposition of the truth." The 
difficulties the new bishop had to face are not to be 
minimized. On the one hand, he complains of the 
teaching and influence of the followers of one Marcus in 
his own district of the Rhone where they had led away 
many women. " Some of these," he says, " made open 
confession of their sins, others ashamed to do this had 
abandoned the faith, while some were still hesitating, 
being as the proverb says, ' neither within nor without.' " 
And on the other hand the storm cloud of persecution 
still hung heavily over the little Christian camp in Gaul. 
But in spite of dangers without and fears within the new 
bishop was enabled by the grace of God both to dis- 
regard the intimidations and to disarm the suspicions 
of the Roman government in his private and public 
life, and in his treatise against the heretics to disprove 
the subtle refinements and plausible arguments of the 
Gnostics. 

At length by his consummate ability and stirring 

addresses he succeeded in reestablishing the Church 

in the country. For his labours were not confined to 

the city of Lyons. Eusebius' says that he succeeded 

1 III. 3. 4. 2 H. E. V. 5. 



lo The Life of Irenaeus \P^- 

Pothinus in the charge' of the district^ around that city. 
Theodoret describes him as " the Hght of the Western 
Gauls," " the apostolic man who gave light to the west," 
and "the admirable Irenaeus who brought learnmg, 
culture, and religion to the tribes of Gaul." And 
Gregory of Tours declares that " in a very short time he 
brought the city back to Christianity." This he did 
mostly by preaching, which was the special prerogative 
of the bishop, who generally sat when speaking from 
the "magisterii locus'." He is chiefly connected in 
legend with Besan§on and Valence. To the former 
place he is said to have sent a priest Ferrdol and a 
deacon Ferjeux, and to the latter Felix a priest and 
Achilles and Fortunatus deacons. 

Irenaeus sketches an outline of the teaching which 
the apostles gave the Gentiles and which he himself 
most probably followed in his sermons and catechetical 
addresses to the tribes of his districts. " In dealing 
with such," he says^, "no appeal can be made to the Old 
Testament or its fulfilment in Christ, but one has to 
teach a doctrine altogether new to his hearers, namely 
that the gods of the Gentiles are not gods but the images 
of demons, that there is one God who is above every 
principality and power and every name which is named, 
that His Word, invisible by nature, had become visible 
and palpable among men, and descended to death, even 
the death of the Cross, and that they who believe in 
Him shall be incorruptible and inheritors of the king- 
dom of heaven. Such truths are proclaimed to the 

2 ira.poi.Kla. In Eusebius H. E. v. 23, the plural is used. The word is 
employed in the letter of the Dublin diocese of Dublin clergy to Randolph 
of Canterbury (Ussher iv. 530). 

' Adv. Hacr. in. 3. i. « IV. 24. 2. 



i] The Life of Irenaeus 1 1 

Gentiles by word of mouth without appeal to the 
Scriptures. They who work among the Gentiles have, 
therefore, the more arduous task, but the faith of the 
Gentiles is all the nobler, seeing that they follow the 
word of God without having received previous instruction 
in the scriptures." This was probably his own experi- 
ence. During his residence among the wild tribes of 
the Keltae, of whom he proved himself a true father in 
God, he had almost forgotten the use of Latin and Greek, 
having grown accustomed to the native dialects. 

His relations to the outside world as a bishop of the 
Church were equally cordial and influential and serve to 
illustrate Cyprian's principle with regard to the solidary 
responsibility of the episcopal orders On several oc- 
casions he acted as peacemaker and succeeded in 
preventing discord among the Churches and dissension 
among the brethren, notably in connection with the 
Paschal controversy. Victor Bishop of Rome desired 
to suppress the Quartodeciman use and to establish one 
universal use in the whole Church. He was opposed by 
Polycrates of Ephesus who appealed to the precedent of 
SS. Philip and John and addressed an independent 
letter to the Bishop of Rome (A.D. 196). Provoked by 
this opposition the latter attempted "to cast off from 
the general communion as heterodox the ecclesiastical 
districts of all Asia in globo, together with the neighbour- 
ing Churches that did not follow the Roman mode of 
observing Easter, and proclaimed such as excommuni- 
cated"." Many bishops strove to mediate and of these 
Irenaeus was chief. Having been a Quartodeciman in 

''■ "Episcopatus unus est, cujus a singulis in solidum pars tenetur." 
De Unitate 5. 

2 Eusebius H. E. v. 24- 



1 2 The Life of Irenaeus [ch. 

his youth when he lived in Asia with Polycarp who 
observed that custom and having become an adherent 
of the Roman use after leaving the East, he was well 
qualified to act as arbitrator in this matter, and so was 
a peacemaker both by name and nature. 

Of his letter to Victor a fragment only is preserved, 
but if we may judge from its tenor it was an effective 
eirenicon. He described the meeting of Polycarp and 
Anicetus in Rome, their tenacity in maintaining their 
own customs, and their wisdom in refusing to make 
such a ground for quarrel, Anicetus even requesting 
Polycarp to celebrate in his presence. "Thus they 
parted," he says, " keeping the peace in the interests of 
those who observed this custom and of those who did not 
observe it." Irenaeus also mentions the variety of use 
in connection with the fast. " Some think it right to fast 
one ; others two days ; others again more, and some 
continue to fast for forty days including the hours of 
night in their reckoning." The principle Irenaeus laid 
down, i.e. that " this very difference in the observation of 
the fast confirms our concord in the faith," was quoted 
with approbation by the late Bishop Wordsworth^ 

Eusebius says that he corresponded with most of the 
" rulers of Churches " who differed on this subject, and 
it would appear that he also wrote a letter to Blastus, 
the man who began the controversy with Victor, " on 
schism." These efforts for . peace were crowned with 
success as we learn from Anatolius. 

Eusebius informs us that Irenaeus was a constant 
letter writer. He wrote an epistle to Florinus " on the 
Monarchy of God " ; and another " on the Ogdoad " to 
the same person after he had lapsed into Valentinian 

' Ministry of Grace, p. 356. 



i] The Life of Irenaeus 13 

Gnosticism. Eusebius mentions a brief but important 
work "on science" against the Greeks, another "dedi- 
cated to a brother named Marcianus and containing an 
explanation of the apostolic preaching " which has been 
recently found in an Armenian translation. He also 
speaks of a book of miscellaneous dissertations in which 
Irenaeus makes mention of the Epistle to the Hebrews 
and the Wisdom of Solomon. Eusebius says he had 
personal acquaintance with these works. In his cata- 
logue of Church writers Jerome gives high praise to the 
commentary on the Ogdoad, quoting the concluding 
words. Maximus of Turin (a.d. 422) quotes the follow- 
ing as from the letter to Victor : " as long as a man can 
do good to his neighbour and does it not, so long shall 
he be considered a stranger to the love of God." And 
the brief but pregnant saying, " It is the sole business of 
the Christian to study how to die," survives with many 
others from the Miscellaneous Dissertations. There are 
many other fragments attributed to him. Some of these, 
"the Pfaff fragments," will be considered in another 
place. 

So zealous a champion of Bible truth and Church 
doctrine did he prove himself to be that we are not 
surprised that with all his engagements he made time to 
compile his exhaustive and elaborate treatise against the 
heresies. Like many another labourer, much of his 
projected work was undone when the pen fell from his 
hand. He was not spared to fulfil his intention of 
writing a special treatise against Marcion " in order to 
convict him out of his own writings, and to confute him 
by those very discourses of the Lord and His disciples 
which he himself admitted V 

1 I. 27. 4. 



14 The Life of Irenaeus [ch. 

We are, however, thankful that his great work 
against the heresies has been handed down, fairly well 
preserved, in the Latin version, by the labours of students 
whose names have long since been forgotten, but whose 
merit it was to discern the vast importance of this 
monumental work and the unique position its author 
occupied in the early Church. Fragments of the original 
Greek are collected from the writings of Hippolytus, the 
pupil of Irenaeus, who carried on his campaign against 
heresy, and from those of Epiphanius who quotes the 
preface and most of the first book against the heresies. 
A large number of Syriac fragments are in the Nitrian 
collection of the British Museum. Mr Harvey thought 
these favoured the notion of a Syriac version of the 
treatise. But in spite of the value of the treatise there 
came a day when there was not a copy to be found in 
Lyons. For Aetherius, bishop of that city, wrote to 
Gregory the Great asking for an account of the doings 
and writings of the blessed Irenaeus, and he replied 
that he had made a long and diligent search for such 
a record, but without success, while the preface of the 
Arundel MS. styles our author " perrarus " or very rare. 
The treatise which was undertaken at the request of 
a friend seems to have extended over a number of years. 
Suffice it to say here that it abounds in beautiful passages 
and exquisite thoughts on the Incarnation and Atone- 
ment, and contains interesting and valuable summaries 
of the apostolic creed and exhaustive accounts of the 
Gnostic heresies. " The Word of God," he writes, 
" became what we are to make us what He is." " He 
brought down God to man by the descent of the Spirit 
and raised humanity to God by His incarnation." 
■' It was right that the Mediator between God and man 



i] The Life of Irenaeus 15 

should restore harmony between God and man by His 
affinity with both." These passages may serve as an 
index of the spiritual character of the work. The 
treatise also throws an important light upon early 
speculation, which was carried on beneath the cloak of 
Christianity and in the name of Gnosticism. This scheme 
for the solution of the problems of existence, viz. the 
relations of good and evil, God and the world, spirit and 
matter, revelation and redemption, creation and salvation, 
the finite and the absolute, the origin and destiny of 
things, pressed into its service texts of scripture, ecclesi- 
astical ritual, Greek philosophy, Jewish cabala, oriental 
theosophy, Egyptian mythology, and the Pythagorean 
system of numbers. The promoters of this ancient 
" Christian Science " assumed an air of superior intelli- 
gence towards the '' common Church people," and their 
organizations offered to many would-be clever persons 
an attractive refuge from the social service of the 
Christian Church. Thus it became a great barrier to 
the progress of Christian life among the educated classes. 
The grains of truth imprisoned in it gave vitality and 
strength to the heterogeneous mass of mysticism and 
speculation of which it consisted. To expose and refute 
the plausible theories, rules of magic, and mystifying 
hendecasyllabics of the many Gnostic sects, Irenaeus, 
like another St Paul, buckled on his armour. In his 
day Gnosticism had made great headway. In a satirical 
epigram composed against one Marcus Irenaeus ascribes 
his success to Satanic influence. It is uncertain whether 
the so-called " psychic " influence was used by the 
Gnostics, but a great deal of the results of their work 
might be compared with the evil consequences of modern 
spiritualism. A good working statement of the various 



1 6 The Life of Irenaeus [ch. 

systems, the Valentinian the more elaborate, and the 
Marcionite the more austere, is given in Mr Harvey s 
commentary on the treatise. 

The personality of Irenaeus was reserved but none 
the less attractive. The exposition of the truth as it is 
in Christ was his all-absorbing theme. It was to defend 
the truth against the misinterpretations of the Gnostics 
that he devoted his leisure hours. It was to spread 
this truth among the barbarians that he abandoned the 
language of culture. This he tells us not in order to 
parade his self-sacrifice, but to excuse the plainness of 
his style. Writing to his friend he says : " You must 
not expect from me, who am domiciled among the 
Keltae and am accustomed, on most occasions, to the 
use of their dialect, any display of rhetoric which I 
have never studied or beauty of diction to which I do 
not aspire." The love of the truth and affection for his 
people caused him to cross swords with the Gnostics 
who were leading members of his flock astray. 

Church historians of every age speak in a chorus of 
praise of his work and character. Jerome calls him 
"the apostolic man"; Basil "the successor of the 
apostles"; Tertullian, "a most careful investigator of 
every doctrine." Eusebius brackets him with Clement 
of Alexandria as " a man equipped with the gifts of the 
Spirit and furnished with heavenly graces''; while 
Erasmus declares that "his writings breathe the early 
vigour of the gospel and that his speech proveth his 
readiness for martyrdom." But the fruits of his pastoral 
and missionary work are sufficient evidence of the 
superior quality of the man's soul. It is gratifying to 
reflect that this city of Lugdunum, where a common 
altar had been raised and a common festival instituted 



i] The Life of Irenaeus 17 

to wean the Gauls from the Druidical religion, became 
in the succeeding centuries, through the influence and 
work of Irenaeus, a centre of Christian light and culture. 
And in the vicinity of the famous altar where the 
rhetorician was wont to recite his pompous speeches, 
which did not touch the problems of human life, the new 
and revivifying truth of Christ was proclaimed in no 
uncertain tones and the inhumanity of the Roman shows 
denounced \ And so it came to pass that when the 
sword of Severus was unsheathed (A.D. 202), and the 
blood of the Christians ran in streams through the streets, 
that noble spirit and those who had been trained by him 
for martyrdom were ready to die for the faith which 
was committed to the saints. In Jerome's Isaiah c. 64 
Irenaeus is described as " an apostolic man, bishop and 
martyr," but Ephraim Syrus, Augustine, Theodoret and 
Cyril do not call him martyr. In the Codex Vossianus 
(14th cent.) of the treatise its author is styled "bishop 
and martyr." It is possible that he may have been 
confused with Irenaeus of Sirmium who perished in the 
Diocletian persecution (a.d. 304). Gregory of Tours, a 
rather credulous historian, is the first writer to give an 
account of his martyrdom. The Martyrologium Roma- 
num makes no mention of such a martyrdom, and in 
his Syrian fragments there is only one doubtful instance 
of the title " martyr." But a short Gallican martyrology 
found by Massuet at St Germains in a manuscript 
assigned by him to the 8th century fixes the com- 
memoration for the 28th June. If he suffered martyrdom 
the exact date is unknown. But it is most unlikely that 
so prominent a person could have escaped the sword of 
Severus. Jerome says that he was at the height of his 

^ Adv. Haer. I. 6. 3. 
H. I. 2 



1 8 The Life of Irenaeus [ch. i 

powers in the reign of Commodus (i8o — 193 a.d.). It is 
hardly possible that he could have lived much beyond 
the beginning of the 3rd century, seeing that his literary 
labours were not finished when he died. And whether 
he suffered as a martyr or not he was prepared for 
martyrdom, his principle of life being, to use the aphorism 
of Whichcote, " The nearer approach to God will give 
us more use of ourselves." 



CHAPTER II 

THE TEACHERS OF IRENAEUS 

A CENTURY and more of Christian thought and 
work had to roll past before Christian theology could 
be presented in a systematic form, or ever its various 
parts could fall into their proper position in the perspec- 
tive of the whole. The work of the first two centuries 
was, of necessity, apologetical and polemical rather than 
constructive and aggressive. By the settled and the 
charismatic ministry, the faith had to be maintained 
against Jewish encroachments and Gnostic innovations. 
The Christians had to be kept together by an organiza- 
tion which reminded them of their common origin and 
inheritance as the Body of Christ, lest their individual 
tendencies should cause them to separate into a con- 
geries of small and self-centred communities. And 
the sacred documents had to be sifted, preserved, and 
protected against, the interpolations, expurgations, and 
interpretations of unauthorized or independent teachers. 
But there was an equally important work to be done, 
one for which special men were raised up. The ration- 
ality of the Christian revelation had to be maintained, 
its superiority to other religions and philosophies had 
to be demonstrated, and the sweet reasonableness of 
the faith as the crown and climax of previous aspirations 



20 The Teachers of Irenaeus [cH. 

and gropings after God had to be emphasized by quali- 
fied men. And these, the Apologists, paved the way 
for the Theologians. In order, then, to form a tolerably 
fair estimate of the ecclesiastical position and importance 
of Irenaeus, in whose day the Church begins to emerge 
from the tunnel of uncertainty, a body equipped with 
a fairly uniform rule of faith, a generally received canon 
of the Old and New Testaments, a well-recognized con- 
stitution, and a well-established raison d'itre, we must 
realize his indebtedness to the Christian Apologists. 
For the theology of Irenaeus found both introduction 
and basis in the work of his predecessors, while it 
received shape and direction from his great controversy 
with Gnosticism. For that controversy he was prepared 
by the teaching of those who had blended Christianity 
with culture and Christian doctrine with classical learn- 
ing, and who had represented Christianity as the religion 
which was the only true philosophy, and as the philoso- 
phy which was the only true religion. 

Accordingly, to understand the work and personality 
of Irenaeus we have to take into account his spiritual 
ancestors and the spiritual environment in which his 
mind grew and developed. In several directions one 
may trace an influence — more or less marked — of his 
predecessors and teachers upon his theological ideas. 
One might follow the traces of this influence in more 
detail, beginning with Hermas. In the fourth book 
against the Heresies' we have this quotation from the 
Pastor of Hermas, brother (?) of the Roman bishop 
Pius, A.D. 140, which is cited as Scripture : " First of all 
believe that there is one God, who hath made and 
established all things and has caused that all things 



ii] The Teachers of Irenaeus 2 1 

should come into existence from nothing, and who 
contains everything, but is contained by none." 

The influence of the letter imputed to the " apostolic " 
Barnabas is as discernible in the treatise of Irenaeus as 
it is in the Stromateis of Clement of Alexandria', and 
throws light on the early connection between Rome, 
where Irenaeus studied, and Alexandria, where Barnabas 
probably lived. Compare the fifteenth chapter of the 
letter with the twenty-eighth chapter of Book V. The 
author of the epistle describes a millennium, a sabbath 
of a thousand years, and says : " Attend, my children, to 
the meaning of the words, ' He finished it in six days.' 
This signifies that in six thousand years the Lord will 
bring all things to an end. For the day with Him is a 
thousand years. He himself bears out my words by 
saying, ' To-day will be as a thousand years.' Therefore 
in six days, that is, in six thousand years, all things will 
be accomplished." 

Picturing the same event, Irenaeus writes : " In as 
many days as this world was made, in so many thousand 
years shall it be finished, and, therefore, the Scripture 
saith, ' Thus the heaven and the earth were finished and 
their order. And God brought to a consummation on 
the sixth day all His works which He made, and rested 
on the seventh day from all the works which He made.' 
These words contain both a record of the past and a 
prophecy of the future. For the day of the Lord is as 
a thousand years, and in six days the creation was 
finished. It is clear, therefore, that the sixth thousand 
year will mark its end." 

We also find in this letter the mystical interpretation 
in which Irenaeus delighted. Moses, according to it, 

I Clement of Alexandria, p. 232. S.P.C.K. 



2 2 The Teachers of Irenaeus [ch. 

spoke in spirit, that is, in a spiritual sense, but tlie Jews 
were led into error by a bad angel, and adopted the 
carnal and literal meaning of the Mosaic numbers and 
injunctions, which concealed spiritual truths, and thus 
the entire ceremonial system was the result of a mis- 
conception. In the same way Irenaeus traces the 
perversions of the Gnostics to the influence of malignant 
spirits. In the ninth chapter of this letter the author 
argued that Abraham's circumcision of three hundred and 
eighteen men prefigured the crucifixion of Jesus, I and 
H, the initial Greek letters of His name, representing i8, 
and T, the sign of the Cross, standing for 300. Similarly, 
Irenaeus found in the four-formed cherubim prototypes 
of the fourfold GospeP. 

To pass on to Ignatius. Irenaeus seems to have been 
acquainted with at least the three epistles of this Father 
which are found in the Syriac versions. His silence 
regarding the passages of the Medicean revision, especi- 
ally that in the letter to the Magnesians^, which seems 
to answer or anticipate the Valentinian gnosis, has been 
urged by Cureton as an argument that he was only 
acquainted with the Syriac recension. In V. 28. 4 he 
writes with one slight variation from that recension': 
" I am the wheat of Christ, and am ground by the teeth 
of wild beasts that I may be found the pure bread of 
God." The following passage on the Incarnation*, 
" But in every respect He is man, the creation of God, 
and the recapitulation of humanity in Himself, the in- 
visible become visible, the incomprehensible being made 
comprehensible, the impassible become passible, and the 
Word made man, thus summing up {recapitulans) all 

1 in. II. 8. a (,_ y;ij 

^ Letter to the Romans, c. iv. « m. jg. g. 



ii] The Teachers of Irenaeus 23 

« 

things in Himself," reminds one of the words in Ignatius' 
letter to Polycarp preserved in the Syriac : " Await Him 
who is above time, who is without time, who is 
invisible, but who became visible on our account, who 
is impalpable and impassible, but who became passible 
for us, and who endured in every way for us." They 
also seem to be a distinct echo of the pregnant words of 
Ignatius to the Ephesians, which are not, however, found 
in the Syriac^ : " There is one Physician, in the flesh and 
the spirit, made and not made, God become flesh, true 
life in death, of Mary and of God, first passible and then 
impassible, even Jesus Christ onr Lord." 

"There is no doubt," writes Prof Harnack', "that 
Irenaeus, as a rule, made Jesus Christ, whom he views 
as God and Man, the starting-point of his speculation. 
Here he followed the Fourth Gospel and Ignatius." In 
his letter to the Trallians, Ignatius contends against 
those who denied the reality of our Lord's humanity, 
suffering and Divinity, thus giving Irenaeus a lead in his 
controversy with the Docetae. And in the Epistle to 
the Magnesians the same writer besought the Judaizers 
to lay aside the " old sour and evil leaven," words that 
are re-echoed by Irenaeus, in a remark on the Ebionites, 
" they remain in the old leaven of their birth'." 

Furthermore, Irenaeus must have owed much to the 
spiritual training and teaching of his own master, 
Polycarp, the friend of Ignatius. Although we must 
not think that the theology of Irenaeus was ready- 
made in Asia Minor, the influence of such a personality 
upon the naturally susceptible mind of a youth is not to 
be lightly estimated. It would be surprising if the latter 

1 c. viii. * History of Dogma, II. p. 262. 

3 V. I. 3. 



24 The Teachers of Irenaeus [ch. 

did not owe his teacher something more than " a pious 
regard for Church tradition and discipline." We cannot 
believe that the pupil's studies of the Pauline epistles ^ 
— the leading thoughts of which on sin, law, bondage 
and salvation were incorporated in his treatise — were 
merely forced upon him by his subsequent controversy 
with Marcion and the Gnostics. It would be strange if 
Polycarp, who quoted no less than ten of these epistles 
in his short letter to the Philippians, and whose mind 
was saturated with the theology of the missionary apostle, 
had not already initiated Irenaeus in the mysteries of 
that correspondence. Polycarp speaks of the wisdom of 
" the blessed and glorious PauP." Irenaeus describes 
Peter and Paul as "most glorious" {gloriosissimisy. 

In one of the fragments collected by Halloix, 
Irenaeus says : "By Benjamin, that is Paul, Christ was 
proclaimed in all the world." It is, indeed, remarkable 
that Irenaeus quotes frequently from the same passages 
of these epistles as his master, e.g. i Cor. vi. 9, 10 is 
found in Polycarp's letter to the Philippians, c. iii., and 
in Irenaeus, V. 27. 4, and V. 11. i ; Galatians iv. 26 is 
cited in Polycarp's letter, c. iii., and in Irenaeus V. 35. 2, 
and an echo of Philippians ii. 10 is found in Polycarp's 
letter c. ii. ; but in Irenaeus I. 4. 2 the passage is more 

' Vide Werner's Der Paulinismus des Irenaus. Hamack (I.e. 308), 
however, says there is not much in Irenaeus to remind us of Paul, because 
he used the moral categories, growth and training, instead of the religious 
ones, sin and grace. In another passage (p. 274) he says : " It is the 
thoughts of Paul to which Irenaeus tried to accommodate himself, without 
having had the same feeling about the flesh and sin as this Apostle." And 
(p. 236) he writes, " Irenaeus clearly sketched for it (catholic dogmatic) its 
fundamental idea, by combining the ancient notion of salvation with New 
Testament (Pauline) thoughts." And again : " A great deal of his matter, 
as, for instance, Pauline formulae and thoughts, he completely emptied of 
its content, inasmuch as he merely contrived to turn it into a testimony of 
the oneness and causality of God the Creator." (p. 137.) 

^ c. iii. ivSd^ov. ' III. 3. 2. 



ii] The Teachers of Irenaeus 25 

fully quoted. The differences are such as might naturally 
be found between the quotations in a letter and those in 
a dogmatic treatise. This letter of Polycarp is described 
as " most satisfactory," iKavaTaTrj, and " one from which 
one may learn the character of his faith and his declara- 
tion of the truth V Irenaeus is also said to have copied 
out the letter of the Smyrnaeans on the death of this 
saint', and although we may not accept the story that 
on the day and hour in which Polycarp suffered in 
Smyrna, Irenaeus in Rome heard a voice as of a trumpet 
saying, " Polycarp has borne testimony," yet we may well 
believe that the example and instruction of the great 
martyr could never have been forgotten by a pupil who 
loved to refer to the striking incidents of his life and the 
touching story of his death*, and with whom he had been 
associated in boyhood's years. 

A less worthy influence upon the theology of Irenaeus 
was exercised by Papias, Bishop of Hierapolis (A.D. 140 
circ), in Phrygia, to whom Irenaeus refers as " hearer of 
John^ and companion of Polycarp," and from whose Expo- 
sition of our Lord's Logia he gives this extract : " The days 
will come when vines shall grow in such a manner that 
each vine shall bear ten thousand branches, each branch 
ten thousand twigs, each twig ten thousand shoots, and 
each shoot ten thousand clusters, and every cluster ten 
thousand grapes, and every grape shall contain five and 
twenty measures of wine. And when a saint shall lay 
hold of a cluster, another cluster shall cry out, ' I am a 
better cluster, take me, and bless the Lord through me.' 

1 III. 3. 4. 

* Vide postscript to letter in Moscow manuscript. 
' Letters to Victor and Florinus, and Treatise, Books il. ill. 3, 4. 
' This is a mistake. Papias was the pupil of John Presbyter. (Eus. 
l.c. in. 39.) 



26 The Teachers of Irenaeus [ch. 

These things are credible to those who believe. And 
when Judas the traitor would not believe, but asked, 
'How could God give such an increase?' the Lord 
answered : ' They shall see who shall come to those 
times.'" This is from the Apocalypse of Baruch." 

This statement is given by Irenaeus on the authority 
of " presbyters who saw John, the disciple of the Lord." 
Eusebius, however points out' that Papias does not 
claim to have heard or seen any of the apostles, but 
merely declares that he tried to find out from the 
presbyters what had been said by Andrew, Peter, Philip, 
Thomas, James, John, Matthew, or any other of the 
disciples of our Lord, and also what Aristion and John 
the Presbyter had taught. Eusebius, moreover, dis- 
credits his witness, inasmuch as he was a mere collector 
of a mass of oral tradition, which consisted of strange 
parables and teachings of the Saviour and other matters 
of a mythical nature, such as the opinion that Christ's 
kingdom would be established in a material sense for the 
period of a thousand years after the resurrection from 
the dead. " But I imagine," writes Eusebius, " that he 
really received the apostolic statements, but did not 
perceive the inward meaning of them. For he was a 
man of very small powers, as one may judge from his 
writings, but his ideas influenced a large number of 
churchmen (eKKXr/crtaiTTiKol,) like Irenaeus, who succeeded 
him and respected his authority." Eusebius may have 
had before his mind, when writing this passage, the 
well-known mistake of Irenaeus on the point of our 
Lord's age : " For that He was either forty or fifty years 
old when He taught is asserted by 'all the presbyters 
who had met John the disciple of the Lord in Asia, on 
' /f. E. III. 39. 



Ii] The Teachers of Irenaeus 2 7 

the authority of JohnV" This error, which has its 
origin probably in the remark of the Jews quoted in the 
Fourth Gospel, " Thou art not yet fifty years old^" does 
not prove that Irqnaeus was not trustworthy, but merely 
that he was not infallible. It is very probable that 
Papias was well acquainted with Polycarp, the teacher 
of Irenaeus, for Smyrna would not have been too far 
a cry from Hierapolis for such a zealous collector of 
traditions. 

We now come to one who seems to have given a 
more decided direction to the theology of Irenaeus than 
any of the preceding — Justin Martyr. When a young 
man in Rome, Irenaeus seems to have come under the 
spell of the master-mind of Justin, who had been a 
student in almost every school of philosophy in his eager 
desire to know God. He had tried the Stoics, the 
Peripatetics, the Pythagoreans, and the Platonists, but 
without success. At last he was brought to the light of 
Christianity. The first great philosopher who embraced 
the faith, he was, perhaps, the best equipped of all the 
Apologists. In his Apology he appeals fearlessly to 
reason. " In virtue of reason Socrates exposed superstir 
tion ; and in virtue of the same reason Christ, ' this 
Socrates of the foreigners,' has done the same. In 
Christ reason took visible form and body. He was the 
Incarnate Reason of God, whereas in the poets and 
philosophers there was but 'the seed of reason that is 
the natural endowment of the whole race of man.' 
The latter were groping in darkness ; with the former 
came the fulness of light. Christianity is, therefore, the 
highest reason." This is the teaching of the Apology. 

1 11. 11. 5. * John viii. 57. 



28 The Teachers of Irenaeus [ch. 

In the Dialogue Christianity is represented as the only 
sure and saving philosophy. 

It may have been from Justin that Irenaeus received 
his instruction in Baptismal Regeneration. The simi- 
larity of their teaching is apparent to one who compares 
Justin's account: "Then they are brought where water 
is, and are regenerated by the same regeneration by 
which we ourselves are regenerated," with the references 
that are found in Irenaeus' treatise to "the laver of 
regeneration " and " the regeneration that takes place by 
means of the laver." Writing on the Eucharist, as they 
called the Holy Communion, both theologians speak of 
a mixed cup ; and declare that the bread over which 
thanksgiving has been made is no longer common bread 
{Kot,vd<s dpTo<;). In his controversy with Marcion and 
the Gnostics, Irenaeus seems to have laid this Apologist's 
work against Marcion under contribution. In IV. 6. 2 
he writes : " Well did Justin write in his book against 
Marcion, ' I would not have believed the Lord Himself if 
He had revealed another God besides the Creator and 
Maker and Sustainer of men.' " Again, in the seventy- 
fifth chapter of his Apology, Justin wrote : " The evil 
demons, as we have shown, raised up Marcion of Pontus, 
who even now continues to teach men to deny God the 
Creator of all things in heaven and earth, and Christ 
His Son, who was declared by His holy prophets, and 
maintains that there is another God besides the Maker 
of all things, and also another Son." Irenaeus passes 
over the influence of demons, but says that Marcion 
uttered the most audacious blasphemy against the 
Father and Jesus, maintaining the former to be the 
author of evil, and declaring of the latter that He came 
from the Father, who is above the mundane God, and 



ii] The Teachers of Irenaeus 29 

that He was manifested in the form of man, and 
abolished the law and the prophets and the works of 
the Creators In another connection Irenaeus remarks : 
"Well did Justin say that Satan never dared to blas- 
pheme God before our Lord's Advent, for till then he 
was not aware of his own damnation^." The influence 
of Justin is apparent, as Prof Harnack^ has pointed out, 
in the distinction which Irenaeus drew between the 
Decalogue and the ceremonial law of the Jews. And 
when describing the resurrection of the flesh^, Irenaeus 
employs similar language and argument to that used by 
Justin, asking " if it is not more inconceivable a priori 
that bones, tendons, and veins and the other parts of the 
human organism should be made existent, and become a 
soul-possessing and rational being, than that having been 
once resolved into earth, the body should be restored 
to a form it once possessed^." The ideas of a millennium 
and eternal and physical punishment with other matter' 
also passed over from Justin to Irenaeus. The argu- 
ment from prophecy which was employed with effect by 
Justin, who laid greater stress upon the fact that the 
miracles of Jesus were wrought in fulfilment of prophecy 
than that they transcended human power, was also urged 
by Irenaeus. Recapitulation {dvaKe<jia\aia)cri<;), an ex- 
pression of Justin, used in connection with the person 
and work of Christ, notably in the passage quoted by 
Irenaeus : " Because the Only-Begotten Son came to us 

1 I. 2'j. 2. ^ V. ■26. 2. " History of Dogma, II. 304. 

t V. 3. 2. '^ Cf. Apology, c. 25. 

"> On V. 31. I, Irenaeus quotes a text, "The Lord remembered His 
dead saints who before slept in the land of sepulture, and descended to 
them to draw them forth and to save them." Justin Martyr quoted it in 
his argument with Trypho, and accused the Jews of having removed it 
from the sacred text. It was doubtless from Justin — for it does not occur 
in Isaiah or Jeremiah — that Irenaeus learnt it. 



30 The Teachers of Irenaeus [cH. 

from the God who made the world and orders all its 
concerns, summing up (recapitulans) His own handi- 
work in Himself, my faith in Him is firm and my love 
to the Father is constant," is frequently reset and 
reproduced in the Christology of Irenaeus. Another 
word and idea of Justin's — avre^ova-la, freedom of will, 
is also a favourite with Irenaeus. Justin's fancy for 
mystical and allegorical interpretation may also have 
led Irenaeus ever to seek the type {quaeras typum) when 
reading the Old Testament. It was as his teacher 
(SiSda/caXos), not bishop or presbyter, that Irenaeus 
referred to Justin. For he says, " Tatian, after Justin's 
death, fancied himself a teacher'." 

Finally, Irenaeus frequently acknowledges his in- 
debtedness to one or more presbyters. In IV. 31. i he 
says : " A presbyter speaking of the men of old time 
used to say, ' With regard to the faults for which the 
Scriptures condemn the patriarchs and prophets, we 
should not censure them, nor act like Ham, who ridiculed 
the shame of his father and so fell under a curse, but we 
should rather give thanks to God for them, seeing that 
their sins were forgiven them at the advent of our Lord ; 
for they,' he used to say, ' give thanks for us and glory 
in our salvation. But with respect to those actions 
which the Scriptures record without comment, we ought 
not to pose as judges, for we are not more exacting than 
God, nor are we superior to our Master, but we should 
seek for the type. For not one of these things which has 
been written down in Scripture is without significance 
{otiosum). ' " The principle adopted by Irenaeus in the 
interpretation of Scripture, namely, that " With God 

1 I. 28. 1, III. 23. 8. 



ii] The Teachers of Irenaeus 3 1 

there is nothing without purpose or signification\" is 
clearly a development of these last words. Who this 
presbyter was we can only surmise. It may have been 
Hegesippus, who wrote " Memoirs " {inrojjbvrmaTa). For 
Eusebius states'' that Irenaeus used "the reminiscences" 
{diroiji,v7]/j,ovevfiara) of a certain apostolic presbyter. 
Again, in IV. 27. i when speaking of the sins of the 
men of old time, he refers to a certain presbyter " who 
had heard from those who had seen the apostles and 
from those who had been their disciples, that the punish- 
ments mentioned in Scripture were sufficient for the 
ancients in regard to what they did without the guidance 
of the Spirit. For as God is no respecter of persons. 
He inflicted an adequate punishment on deeds that were 
displeasing to Him." Irenaeus then proceeds to give 
an account and criticism of the crimes and punishments 
of David and Solomon, concluding with the words : 
" The Scripture sufiSciently reproved him, as the presby- 
ter remarked, in order that no flesh should glory in the 
sight of God." 

In IV. 4. 3 when affirming that God does everything 
by measure, he quotes from one '' who well said that the 
immeasurable Father was Himself subjected to measure 
in the Son, for the Son is the measure of the Father, 
since He comprehends Him." 

In V. 5. I when describing the translation of Enoch 
and Elias, he writes : " Wherefore the elders who were 
disciples of the apostles tell us that those who were 
translated were transferred to that place — for Paradise 
has been prepared for righteous men who have the 
Spirit — and that they shall remain there until the closing 

1 Nihil enim vacuum neque sine signo apud Deum. (iv. 21. 3.) 
» J/. E. V. 8. 



32 The Teachers of Irenaeus [ch. 

and crowning scene, awaiting immortality." When 

depicting that consummation and the pilgrim's progress 

that shall end in glory, he again refers to the tradition 

of the Presbyters, the disciples of the Apostles ^ 

In the second paragraph of his first Preface, Irenaeus 

quotes the remark made by one better than himself {rov 

KpeiTTovo<; vfioov) on the specious plausibility of the 

heretics, namely, "that even a glass imitation is often 

preferred to a valuable emerald." "The better man" 

appears again in i. 13. 3, where we read : " as my superior 

hath said concerning such women," i.e. the followers of 

Marcus, " a bold and brazen thing is a soul, heated and 

puffed with mere air" (/cevcS depi Oepfiacvo/ievij). And 

in I. 15. 6 he quotes the following invective against the 

heretic Marcus, by "the divine elder {irpea^vrris;) and 

herald of the truth." 

Marcus, of idols and portents the slave. 
Of magic and stars ne'er ceasing to rave, 
Seeking therein supports for thy error, 
Compassing signs for victims of terror, 
Essays of witchcraft —detested by God, 
Hallowed by Satan, thy father in fraud, 
Helped by Azazel, of goodness the foe, 
Who findeth in thee his herald of woe. 

Such, he says, is the composition of "the old man 
beloved by God." This saintly elder might well be 
Pothinus, into whose diocese on the Rhone this Marcus 
had made incursions with deplorable results among the 
women. 

We have found many references to individual 
teachers and predecessors, many germs of thought from 
which his own ideas were developed in the treatise of 
Irenaeus. We may also say, generally, that the Apolo- 
gists very largely paved the way for that work by 

' V. 36. I, I. 



ii] The Teachers of Irenaeus 33 

transforming the simple faith into a system of doctrine, 
and by casting Christianity into the form of a philosophy. 
Indeed, the Apologists prepared the ground for the 
future theologians of the Church by proving, at a time 
when philosophy was tending to become a religion, the 
reasonableness of Christian Theism, and by showing 
that revealed religion was the highest form in which 
philosophy had been as yet presented. Tatian, in his 
letter to the Greeks^, summarizes the reasons that in- 
duced him to embrace the Christian faith, mentioning 
especially its " sweet reasonableness " {to ivaia-tov). 
" True wisdom can only be learnt of God, it depends 
solely on revelation,'' wrote Athenagoras. Christianity, 
according to Tatian, was too high a thing to be grasped 
by earthly perception, and was only to be known by 
revelation''. And the revelation of the Divine Logos in 
Christ surpassed the greatest light of human thought, 
in the opinion of Justin, who declared that " Christian 
doctrines were more sublime than any human philosophy, 
because the Christ who appeared for our sakes was the 
whole fulness of reason^" 

The influence of Justin alone upon Irenaeus can 
never be measured. The master who kept Tatian 
straight — for it was only after Justin's death that Tatian 
became a heretic* ; the apologist who compiled the first 
treatise or syntagma on the faith, who spoke of the 
Incarnation as a recapitulation of the Creation, who 
emphasized the freedom of man's will and the responsi- 
bility of his actions, and whose eschatological hopes, 
Messianic reading of Scripture, and controversy with 
Marcion were handed on to his pupil, must have played 

1 29. "^ Orat. 13. 

' Apol. II. 10. * Irenaeus i. 28. i. 



34 The Teachers of Irenaeus [ch. ii 

no little part in moulding the mind and training the 
intelligence of one who had seen and heard the saintly 
Polycarp in the early days of his youth, and so had 
drunk deeply and in many places of the Apostolic 
spring. With this preparatory work of the Apologists 
may be compared the movement of the Cambridge 
Platonists, which Tulloch^ describes as "the first elabo- 
rate attempt to wed Christianity and philosophy made 
by any Protestant school." One of these, Whichcote, 
who resembled Irenaeus in mind and spirit, said : 
" I receive the truth of the Christian religion in way of 
illumination, affection and choice....! have no reason 
against it, yea, the highest and purest reason is for it." 

1 Rat. TheoL, Vol. Ii. p. 13. 



CHAPTER III 

THE TREATISE AGAINST THE HERESIES 

In the preceding chapter we have described the 
influence exercised upon the theology of Irenaeus by his 
spiritual predecessors and teachers, Polycarp, and Justin, 
and other Apologists. These men had, as we have seen, 
prepared the ground for Irenaeus and his successors by 
representing Christianity as the religion which was the 
only true philosophy and the philosophy which was the 
only true religion. Their previous training in dialectics 
and logic had equipped them for the work of proving 
the reasonableness of Christian Theism and revelation 
to the educated, and that work was the starting-point 
of all future endeavours among the circles of the learned. 

There were many men, however, blunt persons like 
Marcion, and dreaming souls like Valentinus, who at- 
tempted to discover a modus vivendihetv/een a philosophy 
they did not wish to discard and a religion they were loth 
to deny. New developments and problems were started 
within the very pale of Christianity by this desire to 
find points of contact and methods of reconciliation 
between Christianity and other religions and philosophical 
systems. The result was Gnosticism, of which TertuUian 
wrote: "Away with all attempts to produce a motley 
Christianity, compounded of Stoicism, Platonism, and 
Dialectics. Possessing Jesus Christ, we need no curious 
disputation ; after enjoying the Gospel, we require no 

3—2 



36 The Treatise against the Heresies [cH. 

philosophical inquiries." While it may be an exaggera- 
tion to say with Harnack of these Gnostics, " they were, 
in short, the theologians of the second century V' we may 
not forget that it was through them that "studies, 
literature, and art were introduced into the Churchl" 
They may have been "the first to work up tradition 
systematically," but they cannot be said to, have handled 
religious subjects with reserve and patience. For while 
the Apologists, the early defenders of the faith, were 
content to represent it as a philosophy of life and a 
revelation of divine truth, the Gnostics converted 
Christianity into a theosophy and a Christian science, in 
many points resembling that which now bears the name, 
with an answer for every question under the sun. The 
Church's controversy with the Gnostics, however, helped 
it to work out its faith in terms of a creed. For though 
it was speculation carried beyond reasonable limits into 
spheres of being, utterly unknown and incomprehensible, 
it was carried thither in the interests of knowledge and 
in the hope of attaining completeness of thought and 
arrangement. The origin of things was set forth in a 
plausible system, in which the complexities of creation 
were apparently simplified by the theory of the Pleroma 
and its emanations. Such an attempt — extravagant and 
puerile as it may seem — to solve the problems of life by 
the aid of the imagination was made by those who have, 
and justly have, the credit of being the first to grapple with 
questions of the highest importance to Christian students. 
The theology of Irenaeus must therefore be regarded as 
the outcome of this struggle with Gnosticism as well as 
the spiritual inheritance of his age. For by it he was 

1 Cf. History of Dogma 11. 304 Eng. Trans., " the oldest theologians 
(the Gnostics)." 

" Baumgarten-Crusius, Dogmen-Geschickte; see Dorner i. 357. 



Ill] The Treatise against the Heresies 37 

eventually led to occupy, as has been well said, " a middle 
position between the renunciation of all knowledge and 
the attempt to fathom the depths of the Godhead." And 
it was the direct cause of his undertaking his great work 
against the heresies. 

This work, " The Refutation of the Heresies, or the 
Treatise against the Heresies," by Irenaeus, is one of 
the most interesting and important remains of early 
Christianity. It undoubtedly owes its unique position 
in the library of the Church to the loss of Justin's 
Syntagma or treatise against all the heresies, and of 
Hegesippus' work on the Apostolic Kerygma in five 
books', on which it was evidently modelled. But it is 
not merely an exposure of the false tenets of the Gnostic 
schools, but also an exposition of the true doctrine of 
the Church. In the first of the five books into which 
the work is divided, the Gnostic theories are described, 
in the second they are refuted, and in the three con- 
cluding books the Christian truth is set forth. The first 
two books are not within the range of the ordinary 
reader, inasmuch as they discuss abstruse metaphysics 
and abstract speculations. For in their efforts to recon- 
cile the finite and the infinite, to account for the origin 
of evil, and to construct a theory of creation which would 
explain both revelation and redemption, the Gnostic 
philosophers abandoned or perverted the teaching of 
Scripture. Accordingly, we find, as in the modern 
systems of Swedenborg, Mrs Baker G. Eddy, and 
Mrs Annie Besant, the most wonderful statements and 
bewildering arguments evolved from the inner conscious- 
ness of their authors. Indeed, we might say in gene- 
ral that Swedenborgianism and its " correspondences," 
1 Euseb. H. E. iv. 8. 



38 The Treatise against the Heresies [ch. 

Theosophy and its " planes," Christian Science and its 
•' delusions," are but revivals of certain aspects of ancient 
Gnostic thought in modern dress. The danger of the 
ancient systems, like that of the modern ones, consisted 
not so much in the mass of error they concealed as in 
the grains of truth they contained. " The specious fraud 
of the heretics plausibly tricked out with borrowed 
plumes might," as Irenaeus said in an eloquent passage, 
" easily beguile the more simple to accept it as truth, just 
as, to quote the expression of one more excellent than 
myself, the precious emerald is sometimes thrown into 
the shade by a clever imitation in glass. Accordingly, 
lest any should be led astray by wolves in lamb's 
clothing, who use the same words as we do, but not in 
the same sense, I have considered it to be my duty, after 
reading some of the so-called commentaries of the school 
of Valentinus, and after making myself master of their 
tenets by frequent intercourse with people of that sect, 
to unmask their profound and egregious mysteries to you, 
my dear friend, so that you on your part may expose 
them to all your people and warn them against the 
' depth {bythos) of folly\' " 

The following references to his own literary labours 
found in the prefaces of the last three books against the 
heresies throw an interesting light on the composition : 
iii. Praef " You asked me, dear friend, to explain the 
hidden doctrines of Valentinus, and to expose their 
variety in a treatise against them. I have, accordingly, 
undertaken to demonstrate their origin from Simon, the 
father of heretics, and to confute their theories. The 
first book is occupied with their opinions and customs. 
In the next their arguments and reasons are answered 
' Praef. I. i. 



Ill] The Treatise against the Heresies ^39 

and vanquished. While in this, the third, Scriptural 
proofs will be given, so that you may be armed cap-a-pie 
for an encounter with them. If you remember what I 
have already written, you will have a full and complete 
refutation of all the heresies. And it behoves you to 
resist them with confident assurance on behalf of the 
only true and living faith which the Church has learnt 
from the Apostles and given to her sons." iv. Praef 
" In sending you, dear comrade, this fourth book of my 
treatise on the Detection and Refutation of False Know- 
ledge, I shall add the weight of our Lord's words to 
what has already been advanced, that you may be able 
to save men from making shipwreck of their souls in 
deep waters. For he who would confute them must 
understand their tenets {regulae) and arguments, just as a 
physician must understand the disease he would heal. 
My predecessors though better men than myself were not 
adequately equipped to meet the followers of Valentinus 
because they did not know their tenets." v. Praef " In 
this, the fifth book of the Exposure and Confutation of 
Knowledge falsely so called, I shall try to furnish proofs 
from other portions of our Lord's teaching and from the 
letters of the Apostles, that so you may be fully prepared 
to withstand the heretics, to convert the wanderers to the 
Church of God, and to establish the neophytes in the 
sound faith which is guarded by the Church." 

This undertaking is acknowledged by the ancient 
Fathers to have been as successful as it was meritorious. 
Epiphanius, in his work against the heretics^ declares 
that " Irenaeus, the successor of the Apostles, exposed in 
a wonderful manner the folly and madness of Basilides." 
And again he says : " That elder, adorned with every 

1 J4. 8. 



40 The Treatise against the Heresies [ch. 

spiritual grace, was equipped like an athlete for the 
fray, with heavy weapons, and overcame and refuted by 
sheer faith and knowledge all their falsehoods^" And 
Hippolytus^ of Portus wrote a book against all heresies, 
which was based upon this work of Irenaeus, according 
to Photius. It was as a Scripture theologian that 
Irenaeus had most weight. His acquaintance with the 
Scriptures at that early date was marvellous. For 
instance, he quotes the principal passages both of the 
Old Testament and the New on blood, in the fourteenth 
chapter of the fifth book. And from a literary point of 
view the work, in spite of the unattractive character of 
the Latin translation, is interesting. Although he keeps 
his own personality in the background, his wit is so 
keen, his illustrations so apt, his explanation so clear, 
his language so epigrammatic, and his piety so profound 
that there is not a dull page in the treatise. The similes 
of the sunlight, the bank, the hunt, the mosaic, the 
sponge, the patch-work robe, the flower-pot, the false 
gem, the artist, and the cisterns are among the best 
known. Bright flashes of wit coruscate through the 
gloom of controversy, and irony and humour considerably 
lighten the weight of the argument. Conscious of the 
force of gentle ridicule, he compares the heretics, in 
II. 2. I, with the dog of Aesop which dropped the bread 
while making an attempt to seize its shadow. The 
badly assorted ideas of the Gnostics are likened to a 
motley garment of many rags^ " It is not necessary to 

1 Haeres. 31. 33. "We are justified in saying," writes Dr Hamack, 
" that the five books ' adv. haereses ' of Irenaeus were successful, for we can 
prove the favourable reception of the work and the effects it had in the 
3rd and 4th centuries (for instance, on Hippolytus, TertuUian, Clement of 
Alexandria, Victorinus, Marcellus of Ancyra, Epiphanius, and Athanasius)." 
Op. cit. II. 237. 

2 Cod. 121. ' II. 14. 2. 



Ill] The Treatise against the Heresies .41' 

swallow the ocean," he says, " in order to learn that the 
water is salt\" The Gnostics "stride forth like game- 
cocks with eyebrows in air' " ; while their system is to 
be compared with a clay statue covered with gold leaf. 
When concluding his description of the thirty aeons of 
the Valentinians which were evolved from Bythos and 
Sige, he says : " Such are the thirty aeons of this system 
which are 'buried in Sige' (silence)*," and in 11. 12. 8 
he declares the whole system " ends in Bythos, that is a 
bottomless pit." He does not understand how Sige 
(silence) can exist in the presence of Logos (speech), or 
how Logos can manifest himself in the presence of Sige". 
He scornfully asks the Gnostics why they seek after God, 
seeing that He is unknown and unknowable (according 
to their own system). Furthermore, the labour of those 
who work through these volumes is rewarded by side- 
lights that are thrown by them upon the faith and 
teaching of the early Church. There are many important 
passages upon the rule of faith (regula fidei). It is, 
indeed, remarkable that a creed almost similar in sublime 
phrase and logical order to the creed of Nicaea and 
Chalcedon, and in historical setting to the Apostles' 
creed, might easily be reconstructed from the writings 
of Irenaeus. To the critical student the treatise is 
peculiarly valuable, containing, as it does, important 
references, direct and indirect, to the Gospels, Epistles 
and Apocalypse, and some distinctly western readings 
which are also found in Codex Bezae. These will be 
mentioned in their proper place. Suffice it to mention 
here that Irenaeus gives a reading of which Dr Sanday" 
says, " though very possibly and perhaps probably the 

I n. 19. 8. ^ II. IS- »• ' "• '9- 8- 

i I. I. 3. » II. n. 5. ' Inspiration, p. 34. 



42 The Treatise against the Heresies [CH. 

right one, is not now found in a single Greek MS." It 
occurs in III. i6. i, and is part of Matt. i. i8 — " Now the 
birth of Christ (Jesus Christ A. V. and R. V.) was on this 
wise." This reading, according to Irenaeus, was distinctly 
directed by the Spirit, in view of the heresy which 
separated the man Jesus from the aeon Christ. 

Furthermore, there are interesting references to the 
sacramentarian views and the Church organization of 
the first two centuries in the treatise. But it is much to 
be regretted that a large portion of his work, like the 
First Principles of Origen, is only extant in a Latin 
translation, and that the text is uncertain in many 
passages owing to the loss of the principal manuscripts. 
Moreover, the difficulty of introducing this work to the 
.notice of modern readers is considerably enhanced by 
the uncertainty of the Greek and the rude idiom of the 
Latin version, which has the merit, however, of being 
literal. Fortunately we are able to reconstruct a con- 
siderable part of the Greek from the numerous quotations 
we find in subsequent writers, such as Hippolytus, 
Eusebius, and Epiphanius. 

The work was composed originally in the Greek 
language'- Eusebius and Photius quote from Irenaeus 
as a Greek author. And Jerome, the highest authority 
on Latin theology, when reviewing the writers who 
favoured Millenarian views, expressly excludes Irenaeus 
from the number of Latin authors and includes him 
among the Greek. " Of the Latins," he writes, " I may 
mention Tertullian, Victorinus, and Lactantius, and of 
the Greeks, passing by others, Irenaeus, Bishop of 
Lugdunum." In another passage the same theologian, 

' The almost universal language in early theological writings of the time. 
Hippolytus, Bishop of Portus, also wrote in Greek. 



hi] The Treatise against the Heresies ,43 

after mentioning the names of Tertullian, Lactantius, 
Victorinus and Severus, says : " And to cite the Greek 
writers, the first and last together, Irenaeus and Apol- 
linarius." Erasmus, in his edition of Irenaeus, says it is 
doubtful whether Jerome was alluding to the nationality 
or the language of Irenaeus. But Jerome evidently 
meant that Irenaeus was a Greek in the same sense in 
which Tertullian was a Latin Father. A glance at the 
Greek text, wherever it has been preserved, shows that 
it is sufficiently idiomatic and clear, while the Latin is 
equally rough and obscure. It would be difficult, there- 
fore, to believe that Jerome was referring to the Latin 
text when he wrote in his letter to Theodora that the 
books of Irenaeus against the heresies were couched in 
eloquent and scholarly language. The very idiom is 
Greek. For example, we find a well-known Greek 
expression reset in the incorrect Latin, " latuit semetipsum 
incidens'." We also have the word prophetes'^. The 
writer of the Latin text, if Pearson's conjecture is true, 
in I. II. 3, translated the name Epiphanes by "clarus." 
Moreover, the number of titles of the treatise found in 
the Latin seems due to a translator's uncertainty rather 
than to an author's. Furthermore, nearly all the quota- 
tions — which are few — are from the Greek classics, 
chiefly Homer, although it is true that we find distant 
echoes of Horace. And if the author had written 
originally in Latin he would have written Latinus not 
Lateinos. There is, however, no need to elaborate this 
point. The Greek text lay before Hippolytus, Theodoret, 
Epiphanius, and Eusebius, and is thought to have been 
in existence until the ninth century. 

But if the possibility of a second edition in Latin by 

' II. 33. 2. ' IV. ao. 13. 



44 The Treatise against the Heresies [ch. 

the author himself— which seems not less remote than 
that of a second Lukan text — be not admitted, we 
cannot fail to recognize the antiquity and invaluable 
literalness of the Latin version. 

It may have been made before Tertullian's work 
against Valentinus (circ. 200), in which a Latin version 
showing many resemblances, especially in the matter of 
mistakes, is quoted. Cyprian, the pupil of Tertullian, 
seems to have had the same version before him when 
writing to Pompeius about Marcion and Cerdo. And 
Augustine, who was not a Greek scholar, in his work 
On Original Sin against Julianus Pelagianus, quotes the 
passage iv. 2. 7, almost word for word from the Latin 
text, writing : " Irenaeus, Bishop of Lugdunum, lived 
close to the Apostolic times. He says : ' There is no 
other way to salvation from the old infection of the 
Serpent unless men believe on Him who, in the likeness 
of the flesh of sin, was exalted on the tree of martyrdom, 
drew all men to Himself and gave life to the dead.' " 
The translation may have been made by one of Irenaeus' 
clergy, or a successor in his see. The MSS. of the 
Latin seem to have all come from that quarter. Pro- 
fessor Loofs', who writes as an authority upon these 
manuscripts, declares that Massuet was correct in saying 
that the translation was made before Tertullian's Adv. 
Valent., and assigns a hypothetical original to A.D. 200 
(circiter). 

The treatise, which Professor Harnack" considers " far 

superior to the theological writings of Tertullian," was 

undertaken at the request of a friend, and appears to 

have been written in parts and to have extended over a 

' Loofs, Prof. Friedrich, Die Handschriften der Lateinischm Ueber- 
setzung, pp. 59, 60 — 62. 
* I.e. p. 236. 



Ill] The Treatise against the Heresies ,45 

great number of years. Certain allusions in it enable us 
to form some idea of the time of its composition. In 
III. 21. I the author refers to Theodotion's version^ 
which, according to Epiphanius^, was published in the 
second year of the reign of Commodus (180 — 192 A.D.), 
and, according to the Chronicon Paschale, in the consul- 
ship of Marcellus and Aelianus (184 A.D.). This portion 
of the work may, therefore, have been written after that 
date, although it is quite possible that this version may 
have been known to and used by Irenaeus previous to 
its general publication. In III. 3. 3, when giving the list 
of the Roman bishops, he mentions Eleutherus, who, 
according to Eusebius', was Bishop of Rome between 
A.D. 177 and A.D. 190. In III. 11 he also alludes to the 
heresy of Montanus, with reference to which he made a 
journey to Rome in A.D. 177. And he speaks of the 
successors of Polycarp in the see of Smyrna^ " Qui 
usque adhuc successerunt Polycarpo." There is also a 
reference to the heresy of Tatian, which, he says, was 
not made known until after Justin's deaths These are 
landmarks upon which, however, no definite statement 
can be built. It is probable that the work extended 
over a great number of years, that it was commenced 
during his presbyterate (long before A.D. 177) ; that a 
great amount of the material had been collected in 
Rome during his early sojourn there ; and that it was 
not completed until long after the year 184 A.D. Jerome 
tells us that Irenaeus was in the prime of his life in the 
reign of Commodus (a.d. 180 — 192). 

' See Art. Septuagint, Hastings' D. B. 

" On Measures xvii. 

^ /{. E. Pref. V. " Eleutherus succeeds in the seventeenth year of 
Antoninus Varus." Also H. E. v. li, "In the tenth year of Commodus 
and after his thirteen years term of office Victor succeeded Eleutherus." 

« HI. 3. 4- ° '• 18. I. 



46 The Treatise against the Heresies [cH. 

With regard to the title of the work there is also 
much vagueness. Photius declares in his Btbliotheca 
that " the inscription is : — \6-^oi vkvre eXeyx^^ «"^ 
dvarpoirrji; t^9 -ffrevSeovvfiov yvaxreco'i." Eusebius^ gives 
it the same title. There is, however, a shorter form 
which Photius also gives and which is found in Eusebius'; 
" the books against the heresies " (Trpo? ras aipeo-ets), 
and in Cyril's Catechetical Lectures', where we read : 
" in the treatise against the heresies " (-Trpoi to? 
alpeaeis;). Of this shorter but newer form the Latin 
Contra Haereses or Adversus Haereses (Jerome) is a 
translation. The Latin rendering of the passage in the 
preface to the fourth book — " De detectione et eversione 
falsae cognitionis " — shows that Irenaeus gave this work 
the heavier title for which the simpler name Contra 
Haereses or Haereticos was afterwards adopted. For 
example, the heading of the preface of the first book of 
the Arundel manuscript is " Praefatio hyrenei lucdunensii 
episcopi contra hereticos." The title of the Clermont 
(C) is " Hireneus Lugdunensis episcopus contra omnes 
hereses " ; and that of the Voss (V) is " Hirenei epis- 
copi Lugdunensis contra omnes hereticos libri numero 
quinque." 

With regard to the classification of the Latin docu- 
ments, Dr Loofs' pamphlet* is to be consulted. As 
Stieren pointed out in his edition, there are two principal 
families of the Latin translation, the one represented by 
the Clermont and Voss MSS. and the other by the 
Arundel MS. Some years ago Cardinal Pitra, librarian 
of the Vatican, discovered four Roman MSS., two 
parchment codices, Vat. i88, and Ottobon. 752, and two 

1 H. E. V. 7. = H. E. III. 23. s 18. 

* Leipzig, 1890. 



Ill] The Treatise against the Heresies ^47 

paper MSS., Vat.. 187 and Ottobon. 11 54. But these 
MSS. are shown by Professor Loofs to be junior members 
of the Arundel family. It is to be remembered that 
Erasmus used three copies of the text, one sent to him 
by John Faber, and the other two lent from a monastery. 
Latinus Latinius, 1513 — 1593, worked upon another 
manuscript which is now called the Vatican. Feuardent 
speaks of another which the Parisian, Jean de Saint 
Andrd, lent him, and from which he copied the con- 
cluding five chapters of the treatise. Grabe employed 
the Arundel MS., a list of the readings from the excellent 
manuscripts of Isaac Voss, and a copy of variant readings 
made by Mercer from two unknown manuscripts. Pro- 
fessor Loofs had the Codex Vossianus before him. 
Massuet used three manuscripts, one belonging to the 
College of Clermont, another copied by the hand of 
Passeratius, and a third in the possession of Cardinal 
Ottobon. Stieren preferred the Vossian, but Harvey 
thought more of the Arundel. After a comparison of 
the MSS., as regards writing, readings, use of abbrevia- 
tions, and Greek capitals, division of chapters, and 
omission or insertion of arguments, Professor Loofs 
compiled a genealogical table ascribing the Clermont to 
the ninth century, the Arundel to the thirteenth, and the 
Vossian to the fourteenth'. He also points out that the 
oldest Roman MSS., the Vatican and the Ottobon, were 
in all probability written in the South of France, being 
brought from that country by Thomas Parentucelli 
(circ. 143s), afterwards Nicholas V. Professor Loofs does 
not hold it impossible that the arguments of the five 
books were from the pen of Irenaeus. In V, he points out, 
there are Greek capitals for numbers instead of Roman in 

1 p. 80. 



48 The Treatise against the Heresies [ch. 

the second book, and the arguments appear to be a trans- 
lation from the Greek'. He throws light on the interest 
England has always taken in Irenaeus, by identifying 
the old manuscript employed by Feuardent with the 
Voss, which was called after Isaac Voss, a learned Canon 
of Windsor, in whose possession it was after Feuardent 
procured it from Jean de Saint Andr6. He would also 
identify the Clermont MS. with an Irenaeus which 
Delisle found in the catalogue of the famous library of 
the monastery of Corbie, and which probably then 
passed into the hands of the Jesuits of Clermont, and is 
now in the possession of Mr John Fenwick, son-in-law 
of Sir John Phillips, who purchased it from the Jesuits. 
The Arundel manuscript, the principal member of the 
second family of these MSS., was purchased (most 
probably from the library of Willibald Pirkheimer) by 
Thomas Earl of Arundel (1636), became the property of 
the Duke of Norfolk, his grandson, was presented by 
him to the Royal Society (1681), and since 1831 is in 
the British Museum. 

The dawn of the Reformation witnessed a great 
revival of studies in the work of Irenaeus, who was 
regarded by Reformers as the great patristic authority 
on the Eucharist. The interpretations of the treatise 
are, accordingly, as conflicting as they are numerous, 
Franciscans, Jesuits, Calvinists and Lutherans claiming 
an advocate for their special views in the author. And 
the controversy grew so warm between the Romans and 
the Lutherans that it is alleged and as it appears proved 
that Pfaff (1715) made use of certain unauthentic frag- 
ments to support his case. The principal editions were 
brought out by Erasmus (1526), Feuardent, Gallasius of 

1 p. 61. 



Ill] The Treatise against the Heresies , 49 

Geneva (with Greek text from Epiphanius), Grabe (with 
fragments pubhshed at Oxford, 1702), Massuet (1710, 
reprinted by Migne, 1857), Stieren (1853), and Harvey of 
Cambridge (1857). Harvey collated for his edition the 
Clermont and Arundel MSS. of the Latin text, and gives 
interesting facsimiles of the two manuscripts, the former 
of which is written in a bold Italian hand and the latter 
in a heavy Flemish style. He points out that the former 
ends abruptly at V. 26, and that the readings of the 
Arundel represent a different family of codices. Harvey, 
who held that Syriac was the native tongue of Irenaeus, 
also made use of a Syriac translation. He shows that 
Grabe and Massuet did their work faithfully. There are 
also fragments of an Armenian interpolated version first 
published by Cardinal Pitra in his Spicilegium Solesmense^. 

The treatise was regarded as a standard work on 
the heresies in Church circles of the third century. Ter- 
tullian's work, De Praescriptionibus adversus Haereses^, 
written some twenty years after this treatise (circ. 
200 A.D.) with all the fervid rhetoric of an advocate, was 
based upon it. The same arguments against the innova- 
tions of the heretics are put forward in the form of legal 
demurrers, and the constancy and continuity of the 
Church discipline and doctrine are maintained with the 
same zeal. " For wherever there is the truth of discipline 
and Christian faith, there is the truth of the Scriptures, 
interpretations and all Christian traditions ^" The cata- 
logue of the heresies, which is clearly based on Irenaeus' 
work, and is contained in cc. 45 — 53 of the De Prae- 
scriptionibus, is not considered by Tillemont to belong 
to the work, but to be the composition of a contemporary 
of the author. It is also to be read with the treatise of 
1 torn. I. ^ Vide c. 45. ' c. 19. 

H. I. 4 



50 The Treatise against the Heresies [ch. 

Irenaeus. Furthermore, if we may draw an inference 
from the favourable reception of the treatise by the Greek 
and Latin Fathers, it would seem that it rightly deserved 
the high position it afterwards received in the library of 
the Church. The writings of Hippolytus, who continued 
his master's polemic against the heretics in his Philoso- 
phoumena or Refutation of all the Heresies, bear many 
traces of the influence of its teaching. Hippolytus, 
however, throws the veil of charitable silence over the 
doings of the Gnostics. He is not so outspoken as 
Irenaeus. In one fragment of this author we find 
Irenaeus' idea of the Incarnation as Recapitulatio, and in 
another the opinion is expressed that Antichrist was 
to spring from the tribe of Dan'. In several passages, 
e.g. the account of Simon Magus ^ the text of Irenaeus 
is supplied from the Philosophoumena of Hippolytus. 
Generally speaking, short sentences such as the 
following : 

Obedience to God is immortality'; 

It is the glory of man to be the servant of God*; 

The vision of God confers incorruption^ ; 

God is superior to nature ; and has the Will because 
He is good ; the Power because He is Almighty, and the 
Performance because He is rich° ; 

A living man is the glory of God, but the vision of 
God is the life of man' ; 

The Word became what we are to make us what 
He is *; 

The Word became man that man might possess the 
Word" ; 

■■ After Irenaeus v. 30. i. ^ i. 23. i. ' iv. 38. 3. 

* IV. 14. I. 5 IV. 38. 3. 6 II. 2g. 2. 

' IV. 20. 7. " V. Praef. » in, 19. i. 



Ill] The Treatise against the Heresies ,51 

The Son of God became the Son of Man that man 
might become the son of God^ 

have left an indehble impress upon the devotional 
literature of the Church. In the mystic strains of 
Augustine, in the luminous thoughts of Henry Vaughan, 
and not least in the pious aphorisms of Benjamin 
Whichcote, who lived like Irenaeus in making up differ- 
ences, and in the spirit of his own words, " Heaven is 
first a temper, then a place," and " Heaven present is 
resemblance to God," we find much that reminds us of 
the jewels "five words long" that stud this monumental 
work. 

' in. 10. 2. 



4—2 



CHAPTER IV 

THE EDUCATION OF MAN 

Irenaeus writes in an interesting and instructive 
manner upon the Divine guidance of man. Taught by 
philosophy and observation that the principle of life is 
growth, he learnt from the Scriptures that the life of 
man is a step-by-step education, a gradual forming of 
character under the hand of the Word, Who has been 
with man from the beginning, and by the ministry of 
evil, which receives a teleological significance when re- 
garded as a preparation for life and advance towards 
God and perfection. 

In IV. II. 2, he lays down the fundamental principle 
which has necessitated the progressive form of man's 
education. " God makes, but man is made. While He 
Who makes is ever the same, that which is made receives 
beginning and middle, addition and increase. God, indeed, 
is the benefactor, and man is the receiver of the benefit. 
But whereas He is truly perfect in all things, and always 
equal to and like Himself and the source of all that is 
good, man receives increase and advancement, in the 
direction of God. For as God is always the same, man, 
when found in God, shall ever advance towards Him." 
This essential difference between man and God lies at 
the root of the gradual method of the Divine education 



CH. iv] The Education of Man . 53 

of man, and is the source of man's perpetual aspiration 
after perfection and God. 

In IV. II. I, Irenaeus thus describes the gradual 
nature of the Divine education in the history of man : 
" How could the Scriptures testify of Him unless all 
things had been made manifest to the believing by one 
and the same God through the Word ? God at one time 
held converse with His creatures, at another He gave forth 
His law; at one time He reproved, at another exhorted, 
and afterwards set man free and adopted him as a son, 
and at the proper time bestowed upon him the inherit- 
ance of incorruption in order to bring him to perfection. 
For He intended man to grow and increase, as the 
Scripture saith, 'increase and multiply.'" 

The brightening prospect before man is thus painted 
in IV. 5. I : " God is one and the same. Who rolls up 
the heaven like a book, and renews the face of the earth ; 
Who made the things of time for man, that, growing to 
maturity in them, man may have the fruition of immor- 
tality ; and Who showers eternal gifts upon men, that " in 
the ages to come He might display the ineffable riches 
of His grace." 

In V. 29. I, he again refers to his favourite theme, 
God's concern for man. "The things of this life have 
been created for the sake of man, who is intended for 
salvation, that God (.') may prepare and mature for im- 
mortality, and render more adapted to the service of 
God, him who is the possessor of free will. The creation 
was made for man, not man for the creation." 

In IV. 38, I, discussing the question, why God should 
not have created man perfect from the first, he says : 
"Rest assured that God, as far as He is concerned, could 
have done so ; for all things are possible with Him, but 



54 The Education of Man [ch. 

His creature, man, who was necessarily imperfect, infant- 
ile, and untrained in the perfect discipline, could not 
have received this perfection owing to his weakness, just 
as a babe cannot receive stronger nourishment than 
milk.... It was with reference to this very principle 
that St Paul says to the Corinthians, ' I have fed you 
with milk, not with meat, for hitherto ye were not able 
to bear it.' " 

In this same book and chapter he gives a vivid out- 
line of man's career in grace, and from weakness unto 
strength, in the form of a climax. " It was morally 
necessary (e'Set) that man should, in the first place, be 
created, and, having been created, should grow, and 
having grown, should reach man's estate, and having 
done so, should receive strength, and having got strength, 
should be glorified, and having been glorified, should see 
God." An equally graphic description of God's educa- 
tion is found in iv. 37. 7 : " God has shown long-suffer- 
ing during the apostasy of man, and man has been 
trained by it, as the prophet says, ' Thy apostasy shall 
reform thee.' For God arranged everything from the 
first with a view to the perfection of man, in order to 
edify him and reveal His own dispensations, so that 
goodness may be made manifest, justice made perfect, 
and the Church may be fashioned after the image of 
His Son. Thus man may eventually reach maturity, 
and, being ripened by such privileges, may see and 
comprehend God." 

It was in keeping with his view of human life as 

a growth that Irenaeus held the opinion that Adam and 

Eve were not of full age when created'. " For they first 

grew up and then they multiplied." It was for man's 

' III. 11. 4. 



iv] The Education of Man 55 

sake, not for God's glory, " that man was created from 
the earth to which we belong \" "In the beginning 
God formed Adam, not because He stood in need of 
man, but that He might have some one to receive His 
benefits I" The secret of man's creation, education and 
salvation is, therefore, the love of God for man. " It 
was His benevolence that induced Him to create us*," 
" it was the exceeding great love of the Son for us that 
led Him to become incarnateV' "nor did He need our 
service when He ordered us to follow Him ; but He 
thus conferred salvation on us^" 

God's thoughtful and loving consideration is described 
in an eloquent passage^, where we read : " He chose the 
patriarchs, indeed, for their salvation, and trained the 
people carefully, teaching the intractable ones to follow 
Him by preparing the prophets and accustoming man 
to bear His Spirit, and to hold communion with Him. 
He Himself needed nought, but granted communion 
with Himself to those who sought it ; sketching, as an 
artist, the plan of salvation for those who pleased Him. 
He guided those who did not see in Egypt, and to those 
who became disobedient in the desert He gave a most 
suitable law, while upon the people who entered the 
good land he bestowed a worthy inheritance, and He 
killed the fatted calf for those who turned to the Father- 
Thus, by a great variety of ways, He led the human race 
to salvation'- The Word passing through all these men 
conferred generous benefits upon His subjects, and drew 
up a code adapted to every condition of life." 

In the following paragraph he thus describes in an 

1 V. 16. I. ^ IV. 14. 1. ' IV. 14. i. 

* V. Praef. ^ IV. 14. i. ' ' IV. 14. i. 

1 ' ad consonantiam salutis,' i.e. into the harmony of salvation. 



56 The Education of Man [ch. 

effective climax the educational purposes of the Jewish 
rites and ceremonies: "On the same principle God 
appointed the construction of the tabernacle and the 
building of the Temple, the election of the Levites, the 
sacrifices and oblations and all the other service of the 
law, although He needed none of these things Himself. 
Besides this. He gave the people instruction, appealing 
to them to persevere and serve God and abstain from 
idols, calling them by things of secondary to things of 
primary importance, by types to realities, by things 
temporal to things eternal, by the carnal to the spiritual, 
and by the earthly to the heavenly." The progressive 
morality of the Old Testament is described in words 
to this effect : " For when the natural precepts of the 
Decalogue proved insufficient to restrain man from 
abusing his liberty, then the Law of Moses was given, 
in which certain concessions were given to the people 
that they might be drawn on by the appointed ordinances 
to the gift of salvation. But perfect righteousness was 
not conferred by the circumcision or by any other legal 
ceremony which was established merely to lead the 
people to keep the Decalogue in the spirit and in the 
letter'." " The Decalogue enjoins love of God, Who 
prepares man, through the Decalogue, for His friend- 
ship and for brotherly love"." 

The provisional and preparatory nature of the Law is 
a favourite subject with Irenaeus. "Certain precepts 
were, therefore, added by Moses because of the hardness 
of their hearts. But what shall we say of the Old Testa- 
ment when the same is found in the New "i And if in 
the New the Apostles made certain concessions to 
human weakness, we cannot wonder that in the Old 

' IV. 15. ' IV. 16. 3. 



iv] The Education of Man ,57 

Testament times God wished a similar course to be 
followed for the advantage of the people, drawing them 
on by prescribed observances to the salvation which was 
promised in the Decalogue, and to His love\" " God 
gave circumcision as a sign, not as the consummation 
of righteousness^" "Abraham himself was without circum- 
cision, and did not know of the sabbath observances 
when he believed in God^" " Why, then, did God not give 
His covenant to the fathers? Because the law is not 
appointed for the righteous. For the righteous fathers 
had the spirit of the law written in their hearts and 
souls, loving God, Who made them, and abstaining from 
injustice to their neighbours. But when the righteous- 
ness and love ceased and passed into oblivion in Egypt, 
God, of necessity, and by reason of His great love, mani- 
fested Himself by His voice, and brought out the people 
by His mighty arm, so that man might once more be 
the pupil and follower of God ^" " For man had not 
the glory of God, and could only attain to it by obedience 
to God. And therefore Moses said : ' Choose life, that 
thou mayest live and thy seed, to love the Lord thy 
God, to hear His voice and to cleave to Him, for this is 
thy life and the length of thy days.' Preparing man for 
this life, the Lord, in His own person, addressed to all 
the words of the Decalogue, and therefore do they abide 
permanently, receiving from His advent in the flesh 
extension and development, but not abrogation^" 

The Gospel is an advance beyond the morality of 
the Law. "God, indeed, cancelled the things which 
were given for bondage and were signs, by the new 
covenant of liberty, but, on the other hand. He gave 
larger scope and meaning to the laws which are natural, 

1 IV. 15. 2. ^ IV. 16. i. ' IV. 16. 2. * IV. 16. 3. ' IV. 16. 4. 



58 The Education of Man [ch. 

noble and universal, granting to men, by means of the 
adoption, a fuller and more liberal knowledge of God 
the Father, so that they may love Him with the whole 
heart, follow Him unswervingly, abstain from evil deeds 
and wrong desires, and reverence Him, not as slaves, but 
as sons revere and love their father^" 

We grow from faith to faith as we advance from 
a lower level of morality to a higher. " For as in the 
New Testament that faith which is toward God receives 
fresh increase and subject-matter in the Son of God, so 
that man may be a partaker of God ; so also our walk 
in life must be more diligent, seeing that we are ordered 
not merely to abstain from evil deeds, but from evil 
thoughts and improper conversation. Whereas the 
punishment of those who regard not God is ever increas- 
ing, being not temporal but eternal, they who inherit the 
Kingdom of God make advance in it ; for there is one 
and the same God the Father and His Word, Who has 
always been present with the human race, and by means 
of His various dispensations has wrought much and 
saved all who from the beginning are saved, that is, all 
who love God and follow the Word according to their 
light V In one sentence, fitting and epigrammatic, 
Irenaeus sums up his argument : " For there is one 
salvation and one God, but the precepts which educate 
man are many, and the steps which lead to God are not 
a few'." 

In IV. 20. 8 Irenaeus speaks more particularly of the 
educational work of the Holy Spirit, Who formed and 
adapted us beforehand that we might be made subject to 
God, and describes the gradualness and naturalness of His 
method in giving us a previous training and discipline 
1 IV. t6. 5. " IV. ■zS. z. ' IV. 9. 3. 



iv] The Education of Man ^g 

for a reception into that glory which shall be afterwards 
revealed in those who love God. 

This view of life, moral and spiritual, as educational, 
much superior to the theory of life as mere probation, is 
the very backbone of the system of Irenaeus' anthro- 
pology, running through it as the warp through the 
woof So much so, that the disobedience of man, 
commonly known as the Fall, assumes a teleological 
significance in this system. As Professor Wendt says : 
" The original destination of man was not abrogated by 
the Fall, the truth rather being that the Fall was intended 
as a means of leading men to attain this perfection to 
which they were destined." " Man, indeed, " writes 
Irenaeus, " though by nature the property of God, was 
alienated from Him contrary to nature'." " But this 
temporary alienation served the kind purpose (magnani- 
mitas) of God that man, passing through all experiences, 
and acquiring the knowledge of moral discipline, and 
being raised from the dead, and learning in his own life 
what is the source of his deliverance, may always prove 
grateful to the Lord, Who hath given him the gift of 
incorruptibility, and may love Him more, on the principle 
that " he to whom more is forgiven loveth more"." " For 
strength is made perfect in weakness, and he is a better 
man who through his own frailty finds out the power of 
God. For how could a man have learned that he 
himself is a weak creature, and doomed to die, but that 
God is immortal and all-powerful, had he not been 
taught by experience those two facts ? There is nothing 
wrong in learning one's weakness by suffering, but it is 
still better not to go astray at all. But presumption 
against God has brought much evil upon man by 

1 V T. I. '^ III. 20. 2. 



6o The Education of Man [ch. 

rendering him ungrateful to God. Man must, therefore, 
learn by experience, lest he fail in his duty to the truth 
and in his love to God\" 

In III. 20. I he says : " When man fell into sin God 
exercised magnanimity, foreseeing the victory which was 
to be gained for Him through the Word, and so He 
permitted man to be swallowed up by that great sea 
monster, not that he might utterly perish, but that he 
might be more subject to God, Who was preparing the 
plan of salvation which was made by the Word through 
the sign of Jonas." 

Writing on the knowledge of good and evil, which 
he declared were necessary to complete human experi- 
ence, he said : " Through the generosity of God man is 
aware both of the good of obedience and the evil of 
disobedience, so that the eye of the mind, gaining 
experience of both, may with judgement make choice of 
the better things, and man may never become indolent 
or neglectful of God's command. Thus finding by 
experience that it is an evil thing which deprives him of 
life, man may never attempt it at all ; but knowing that 
what preserves his life, namely, obedience to God, is 
good, he may keep it with all diligence. Wherefore he 
has a twofold experience, possessing knowledge of both 
kinds, so that with training he can make choice of that 
which is better. But how could he be instructed in 
what is good unless he had knowledge of the contrary .' 
For just as the tongue learns to distinguish bitter from 
sweet by the taste, and the eye learns by the sight to 
discriminate between black and white, so does the mind 
learn the difference between good and evil. But if any 
one shuns that experience of both good and evil, which 

1 V. 3. 1. 



iv] The Education of Man ^ i 

is, after all, the safeguard of the faith, he kills his 
manhood without knowing it^" 

Irenaeus does not palliate evil, but endeavours to 
explain its meaning in the economy of life, and treats it 
as a moral education, as he treats suffering as a sanctify- 
ing discipUne. He would brand the conduct of the man 
who flies from the world and its temptations as cowardice, 
and " the murder of human nature " (latenter semetipsum 
occidit kominem). " And how," he pertinently asks, 
" can one be God before he is man ? How can he be 
perfect when recently made? How can he be im- 
mortal before he has obeyed his Maker in his mortal 
nature^?" "They are, therefore, unreasonable who do 
not await the time of .increase, but impute to God their 
own infirmities, for they neither know themselves nor 
God, and are discontented and ungrateful, unwilling to 
be what they have been created, men subject to passions. 
But overleaping the law of the human race, before they 
are men, they aspire to be like God their Creator, as if 
there were no difference between the Uncreated God 
and the man He has made. For we blame Him because 
He did not make us Gods at the beginning, but men 
first and Gods afterwards. It was in His benevolence 
that God adopted this course, so that no one might 
impute to Him a jealous or grudging disposition. Of 
His goodness He gave man a free will like His own'. 
By reason of His foreknowledge He was aware of the 
results of human infirmity ; but in His love and power 
He shall subdue the substance of the nature He created. 
For it was necessary that nature should be exhibited 
first, and afterwards that the mortal part should be 

1 IV. 39. I. " IV. 39. z. 

' Similes'sibi suae potestatis. 



62 The Education of Man [ch. 

subdued and absorbed by the immortal, and finally that 
man should be made after the image and likeness of 
God, having received the knowledge of good and eviU." 

Thus the presence of evil conduces to man's develop- 
ment and redounds to the glory of God, " Whose power 
is made perfect in weakness, so that we should not be 
puffed up with conceit, as if we had life in ourselves and 
of ourselves. But learning from experience that it is 
from His greatness and not of our own nature that we 
endure unto eternal life, we should neither fall short of 
His glory nor misunderstand our own nature, but 
knowing what God can do and what man receives, we 
should never fail to comprehend aright the relations of 
God and man. May it not be for this that God per- 
mitted our dissolution, that we, being educated in every 
way, with regard to the future might be carefully 
instructed in all things, fully realizing our own nature 
and the power of God^ \ " This teaching on human pro- 
gress and the strenuous life is similarly expressed in 
Browning's Rabbi Ben Ezra: 

Grow old along with me ! 

The best is yet to be, 
The last of life for which the first was made : 

Our times are in His hand 

Who saith, A whole I planned. 
Youth shows but half ; trust God ; nor be afraid. 



Then welcome each rebuff 
That turns earth's smoothness rough, 
Each sting that bids nor sit nor stand but go ! 
Be our joy three-parts pain, 
Strive and hold cheap the strain ; 
Learn, nor account the pang ; dare, never grudge the throe ! 

The principle of development is extended to the 
human race at large in li. 24. 4, where we read : " The 
race of man passes through five ages, infancy, boyhood, 

' IV. 38. 4. 2 V. v.. 3. 



iv] The Education of Man 63 

youth, manhood, and old age," and in v. 24. i — 2, he tells 
us that God has ordered the earthly life of man, appoint- 
ing human rulers, establishing human authority, and 
" grounding the principle of fear in the hearts of men, so 
that, being kept down by the authority of man when they 
did not acknowledge the fear of God, they might attain 
to some degree of justice and mutual forbearance through 
fear of the sword of government. This earthly rule has 
therefore been appointed by God for the advantage of 
the nations, and not by the devil, who is never at rest 
himself and is loth to allow the nations to be so." 

But the sentences in which Irenaeus describes man's 
daily progress in grace and ascension towards the 
perfect, that is, the Uncreated One, are shot with vital 
gold. We have already referred to the noble words of 

IV. 38. 3. In II. 28. I man's increase in the love of God ; 
in II. 26. I man's approach to God by love ; and in 

V. 3. I the increase of glory that follows the increase of 
love to be wrought out by the power of God in those 
who love Him, are depicted in glowing phrase. 

In conclusion, God's ideal for man is reached by the 
help of the Divine guidance with the self-determination 
of man, and the active c6-operation of the human will 
with the will Divine in things pertaining to its well-being, 
moral, social, and spiritual. For "a living man is the 
glory of God, but the vision of God is the life of man\" 
And while " God is the glory of man," the life of man is 
a sphere for the energy, wisdom, and power of God. 
For , as the physician is proved by his patients, so is 
God manifested in the life of man^ And thus evil is 
removed from, and harmony restored in, the human 
existence. Man's deiiication has been made possible by 
1 IV. 10. 7. '' ni. 20. -L. 



64 The Education of Man [ch. iv 

the Incarnation, from which instruction, strength, and 
incorruptibihty have passed into the human race eman- 
cipated and exultant^ The practical application of 
these lessons which are taught by Irenaeus might not 
unfittingly be expressed in the verse of Henry Vaughan, 
the Anglican mystic of light : 

Then bless thy secret growth, nor catch 
At noise, but thrive unseen and dumb, 

Keep clean, bear fruit, earn life and watch 
Till the white-winged reapers come, 

and in the prose of Benjamin Whichcote : " When the 
doctrine of the Gospel becomes the reason of our mind 
it will be the principle of our life" " ; " Thou hast made 
us for Thyself, our souls are unsatisfied and are unquiet 
in us, there is emptiness till Thou dost communicate 
Thyself, till we return to Thee'" ; and might be compared 
with the beautiful words of Origen on God's education of 
man — "God orders the career of the soul not for the 
matter of a fifty years' existence here, but for the 
unending life ; for He has made the intellectual nature 
incorruptible and akin to Himself; nor shall the rational 
soul be cribbed, cabined, and uncultivated* as in this 
lifeV 

1 ni. 23. 2 ; IV. 24. I. 2 Aphorisms. 

' Sermons, iv. 34, after Augustine. 

* oijK d7roK\e£erat t^s OepaTeias. ^ De Princ, III. 13. 



CHAPTER V 

THE RULE OF FAITH 

Having set forth the arguments with which Irenaeus 
met the Gnostics, we now turn to the constructive side 
of his work which had an important bearing upon the 
Christianity of his own and the succeeding age, and 
which was elicited by the assertions of his adversaries. 

The passages in this treatise that express the rule of 
faith, the regula fidei or veritatis, are many and valuable. 
How far these creeds were interpreted and revived by 
the pen of Irenaeus we cannot tell, but we may rest 
assured that the creed he held was substantially the 
same as that which had been handed down from Apos- 
tolic times. It is very remarkable that a creed almost 
similar in sublime phrase and logical order to the 
splendid dogmatism of Nicaea and Constantinople 
might be reconstructed from his writings. More theo- 
logical but less historical than the Western, it would be 
more historical and less theological than the Eastern 
creed. In this chapter shall be given a brief account 
of the growth of the creed, the principal rules of faith 
found in this treatise, and the creed as it might be built 
up from its pages. 

It would seem that there were, in sub-apostolic times, 
a great number of kerugmata or formulae of faith in the 

H. I. S 



66 The Rule of Faith [cH. 

different communities, which, based upon the words of 
Scripture (i.e. the Baptismal formulae and the Pauline 
summaries of the Incarnation and its results), tended to 
become stereotyped and to repeat the same tenets in the 
same order. And when the Church began to extend its 
borders, in order to prevent its degeneration into a con- 
geries of small and independent sects, the leaders of 
Christianity, the Apostles, prophets, and teachers, found 
it necessary to accentuate the unity of the Body by 
emphasizing the unity of the Faith. This work is 
ascribed by Bishop Wordsworth ^ to the charismatic 
and general ministry of the Church''. This interest was 
still further promoted by the aggressive policy of the 
heretics and schismatics who sprang from the very fold 
itself Such was the origin of that creed, for example, 
which was formulated in Rome and to which Tertullian 
refers. " Let us see," said he', " what it (i.e. the Roman 
Church) has learned, what it has taught, and what 
fellowship it has with the African Churches. It acknow- 
ledges one God the Lord, the Creator of the Universe, 
and Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Creator, born of 
the Virgin Mary, as well as the resurrection of the flesh. 
It unites the law and the prophets with the writings of 
the Evangelists and Apostles. From these it draws its 
faith, by their authority it seals this faith with water 
clothes it with the Holy Spirit, and encourages martyr- 
dom. Hence it receives no one who rejects this 
institution." A different form of creed, however, consti- 
tuted the basis of Irenaeus' rules (regulae). It was an 
Eastern, or Greek creed, not a Latin or Roman, that he 
expressed in fixed formulae and "interpreted in an 

' Ministry of Grace, p. 148. ^ yi^g Xrenaeus, iv. 26. 5. 

* De Praes. c. 36. 



v] The Rule of Faith 67 

anti-heretical sense," to use Professor Harnack's phrase. 
But it is to be remembered that there is no doctrine put 
forward by Irenaeus which was, if not literally, at least 
in spirit and in truth professed by the Apostles and 
expressed or implied in the New Testament. Had this 
not been the case, his Gnostic opponents would soon 
have discovered the fallacy. But feeling the force of 
his argument, they did not meet it by an appeal to the 
public and well-known tradition of the Apostles, but to 
select and private information of which no one outside 
their select circle knew anything. 

The Gnostics themselves had published rules of faith, 
as we learn from Iren. III. 11. 3, "if any one will study 
these rules, he will find that in all the Word of God, the 
Higher Christ, is represented as without flesh and the 
power of suffering." And controversy with Gnosticism 
must have taught the Church at a very early date the 
necessity of drawing up a concise statement of its faith, 
in order to secure her children against lapses into heresy. 
" For he," wrote Irenaeus, " who is loyal and steadfast to 
the rule of truth which he received at his Baptism will 
recognize the names and sayings and parables that have 
been taken from the Scripture, but will not accept their 
blasphemous theory. For he will place the words in 
their own context and unmask their unfounded inven- 
±ions\" In this passage we have an important reference 
to a Baptismal rule of truth (jcaviiiv tjj? dKrideia<;) which 
was evidently equivalent to a summary of articles of the 
faith as distinguished from those of Gnosticism, and 
which was doubtless a development of the Baptismal 
formula". In the next paragraph he declares that " the 

1 I. 9. 4. 

^ TertuUian [De Car. Milit. 3), after describing the twice repeated— both 

5—2 



68 The Rule of Faith [ch. 

truth which is proclaimed {Kvpvrrofievnv) by the Church 
is constant" (pe^aiav). This, in short, is the doctrine 
preached by the Church^ {praeconium ecclesiae=Kripv^iJ,a), 
or the tradition {irapaBoai';) which, as distinguished from 
the teaching of the Gnostics, is the apostolic tradition of 
the Church, which had been held continuously and with- 
out adulteration, and was handed down from the Apostles 
to the times of Irenaeus. Of this tradition the Churches 
of Rome, Smyrna, and Ephesus are witnesses". " And 
that ancient apostolic tradition '' is our guide in all con- 
troversial matters^. Hegesippus^ also appeals to the 
uniformity of the teaching and constitution of the 
Church and to its loyalty to the preaching of the law, 
the prophets, and the Lord. 

As distinguished from the heretics, the Catholic 
Church allows no tampering with doctrine, no secret 
teaching — this perhaps is the most important point on 
which the Church differed from the Gnostic sects — and 
no innovations. For "they who abandon the teaching 
of the Church cast a slur upon the experience of the 
holy presbyters \" " For if the Apostles had been 
cognisant of any hidden mysteries, and had been in 
the habit of imparting such to the perfect, they had 
surely delivered them to those to whom they were 
entrusting the Churches. For they desired above all 
things that the men to whom they handed over their 
place of government {magisterii locum — which Bishop 
Wordsworth identifies with the Bishop's seat, ' the place 
of teaching '«) should be perfect and blameless in every 

in Church and at the water — renunciation of the devil, his pomp and angels, 
says : "We are thrice immersed, after making a somewhat longer response 
than the Lord appointed in the Gospel. " 

4 ^' '°^ ""-T^ J. ' ^'^"- «"'• 3- 3 and 4. 3 „,. j. 

Euseb. ff. E. IV. 21. V. jo. ,. 6 op. cit. p. 164. 



vj Ihe Rule of Faith 69 

respectV "Accordingly, it is our duty to avoid these 
'tiiieves and robbers/ to cling with all diligence to the 
things of the Church, and to grasp the tradition of the 
truth^." "The Apostles simply and openly taught every 
thing that had been revealed to them and without 
grudging to every manV After quoting the hymn of 
the Church*, Irenaeus says : " These are the words of 
the Church', from which every Church doth take its rise; 
these are the words of the metropolis of the citizens of 
the New Testament ; these are the words of the Apostles ; 
these are the words of the disciples of our Lord, of those 
who were truly perfect, being perfected by the Spirit after 
their Lord's assumption, and who invoked the God Who 
made heaven and earth and the sea, and was announced 
by the prophets and His Son Jesus Whom God anointed, 
not knowing any other God. For neither Valentinus nor 
Marcion nor others, who made havoc of those who gave 
them their confidence, had as yet appeared upon the 
scene." 

The following are the principal summaries of the 
apostolic faith that are found in this treatise; 

" The Church, although scattered over the face of the 
earth, received from the Apostles and their disciples the 
faith in One God, the Father Almighty, Maker of 
heaven and earth, the seas and all that in them is, and 
in One Christ Jesus the Son of God, Who became incar- 
nate for our salvation, and in the Holy Ghost, Who by 
the prophets proclaimed the dispensations and the 
advents, and the Virgin-birth,, and the passion and the 
resurrection" from the dead, and the bodily ascension of 

^ III. 3. I. ' III. 4. I. ' III. 14. 2. * Actsiv. 24; III. 12. 5. 
' The Church at Jerusalem. Irenaeus or his translator inserted the 
words Tota Ecclesia in the 24th verse of Acts iv. 

6 The " descent into hell," " descendit ad inferna " or " ad inferos " clause 



70 The Rule of Faith [ch. 

the well-beloved Christ Jesus our Lord into heaven, and 
His Parousia from the heavens in the glory of the 
Father to gather up all things in Himself and to raise 
the flesh of all mankind to life, in order that every thing 
in heaven and in earth and under the earth should bow 
to Christ Jesus our Lord and God, our Saviour and our 
King, according to the Will of the invisible Father, and 
that every tongue should confess to Him, and that He 
should pronounce judgment upon all, and dismiss spiritual 
wickedness, and the angels who transgressed and became 
apostate along with the ungodly, unrighteous and pro- 
fane, into everlasting fire, but in His graciousness should 
confer life and the reward of incorruption and eternal 
glory upon those who have kept His commandments 
and abided in His love, either from the beginning of 
their life or since their repentance \" 

" This kerugma and this faith," he declares, " the 
Church, although scattered over the whole world, dili- 
gently observes as if it occupied but one house, and 
believes as if it had but one mind, and preaches and 
teaches as if it had but one mouth. And although there 
are many dialects in the world, the meaning of the 
tradition is one and the same. For the same faith is 
held by the Churches in Germany, in Spain, among 
the Celtic tribes, in the East, in Egypt, in Libya, and 
in the central portions of the world. But as the sun, 
the natural light, is one and the same, so is the light 
of the kerugma of the truth which shines on all who 
desire to come to the knowledge of the truth''." " The 

did not appear until much later. Rufinus expressly denied that this 
clause was in the Roman or the Eastern creeds. It was first used in 
Aquileia. 

' I. 10. I. 2 j_ u,_ j_ 



vj The Rule of Faith 71 

* 

faith of the Church is therefore one. In exposition 
there is a certain latitude ; but in fundamentals there is 
unity." 

" Herein lies," he remarks, "the difference between the 
Gnostic and the Church teachers. For while the former 
have assumed another God, another Christ, or another 
Only-Begotten, the latter are loyal to the subject-matter 
of the faith. They have not conceived any other God 
besides Him Who is the Framer, Maker, and Preserver 
of the Universe, or another Christ, or another Only- 
Begotten. They may throw light upon the obscurities 
of the parables and point out their application to the 
scheme of faith, they may explain the operation and 
dispensation of God for man's salvation, and His long- 
suffering in the apostacy of the angels, and in regard to 
the disobedience of man ; they may show why God 
made some things temporal and other things eternal, 
these heavenly and those earthly ; they may suggest 
reasons why God, although invisible, manifested Himself 
in different ways to different people ; they may say why 
there has been more than one covenant for man and 
what is the character of each ; why God concluded all 
in unbelief; why God became Man and endured the 
Passion ; and why the Parousia of the Son of God took 
place in these last times, that is, at the end instead of 
at the beginning; they may also unfold all that the 
Scriptures contain regarding the end of the world and 
the things to come ; and they need not be silent as to 
why it is that God hath made the Gentiles, whose 
salvation was beyond hope, fellow-heirs, members of the 
same body, and of the fellowship of the Saints ; they may 
expound in their discourses the meaning of the words, 
"This mortal body shall put on immortality, and this 



72 The Rule of Faith [ch. 

corruptible shall put on incorruptionV' and they may- 
proclaim in what sense He says, " That is a people 
which was not a people, and she is beloved who was not 
beloveds" Such study, he argues, would indeed edify 
the student more than the absurd theories and theosophy 
of the Gnostics, which reveal not only the blasphemy, 
but also the dissensions of the heretics on questions 
fundamental to their belief. For few as they are they 
do not agree among themselves in their treatment of the 
same points, but in regard to the things they describe 
and the names they employ, are at variance with one 
another. "Whereas the whole Church throughout the 
world possesses one and the same faith." 

The following interesting rule of faith is found in 
I. 22. I : — 

" The rule of truth {regula veritatis) we hold is, that 
there is One God Almighty, Who made all things by His 
Word, and fashioned and formed thatwhich has existence 
out of that which had none. As the Scripture saith, 
' By the Word of the Lord and the Spirit of His Mouth 
were the heavens and all their glory established.' And 
again, ' All things were made by Him and without Him 
was nothing made.' There is no exception ; but the 
Father made all things by Him, both visible and invisible, 
objects of sense and intelligence, temporal, eternal and 
everlasting. And such He did not make by angels 
or by any powers separated from His Thought. For 
God needs nought of such things ; but He it is Who by 
His Word and Spirit makes, disposes, governs, and gives 
being to all things. Who created the universe. Who is the 

' Irenaeus quotes evidently from memory the words of St Paul in 
I Cor. XV. 54, reversing the order of the clause and adding aapKlov, which 
is not in any Greek MS. 

2 I. lO. 3. 



v] , The Rule of Faith 73 

# 

God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Above Him there 
is no other God, neither initial principle, nor power, nor 
pleroma. He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
Holding this rule, we shall easily show that the heretics, 
in spite of their many and various assertions, have 
deviated from the truth." 

A noble hymn-like utterance on the Father and the 
Son is found in II. 30. 9 : — 

"But there is one only God, the Creator. He is 
above every principality and power and dominion and 
virtue. He is Father. He is God. He is Founder and 
Maker and Builder. He made all these things, the 
heavens, the earth, the seas and all that therein is, by 
Himself, that is, by His Word and His Wisdom. He 
formed man. He planted Paradise, He made the world, 
He sent the flood. He saved Noah, He is the God of the 
living ; Whom the law proclaims, the prophets preach, 
and Christ reveals ; Whom the Apostles announce and 
in Whom the Church believes. He is the Father of 
our Lord Jesus Christ, through His Word, who is His 
Son ; through Him He is revealed and manifested to 
all to whom He is made known ; for they only know 
Him to whom the Son reveals Him. But the Son 
always existing with the Father from of old, yea, from 
the beginning, ever revealeth the Father to Angels, 
Archangels, Powers, and Virtues, and to whomsoever He 
pleaseth." 

A fuller creed of the Incarnation is found in the 
third book. Speaking of the apostolic tradition of truth, 
which he says has been entrusted to the keeping of the 
Church, he writes' : — 

" To this rule many nations of the barbarians, having 
' III. 4. 2. 



74 The Rule of Faith [ch. 

salvation written on their heart by the Spirit, without 
the assistance of paper or ink, consent, steadfastly 
adhering to the ancient tradition, believing in One God, 
the Maker of earth and heaven, and of all things therein, 
by Christ Jesus the Son of God, Who on account of His 
great love for His creation condescended to Jje born of 
a Virgin, and through Himself uniting man and God, 
suffered under Pontius Pilate, and rising again and 
having been received in splendour, shall come again in 
glory as the Saviour of those who are saved, and the 
Judge of those who are judged, to send to eternal fire 
those who alter the truth and despise His Father and 
His advent. Those who have held this faith handed 
down to them by word of mouth {sine Uteris) may be 
barbarians, as far as language is concerned, but as 
regards doctrine, manner, and tenor of life are wise 
because of their faith ; and are well pleasing to God, 
walking in holiness and chastity and wisdom. But if 
anyone should speak to them in their own tongue about 
the inventions of the heretics, they would shut their ears 
and hasten away, because they will not listen to any 
blasphemous utterance. Thanks to that ancient apostolic 
tradition, they do not allow their mind to foster for a 
moment any of their false doctrines. For as yet there 
was nothing known of a heretical congregation or 
creed among them." 

When he sums up his polemic against the Gnostics 
in the second book, he makes this important allusion to 
an oral tradition : — 

" With our words the preaching {praedicatio) of the 
Apostles, the master-teaching of the Lord, the announce- 
ment of the prophets, the dictated utterances {dictatio) 
of the Apostles, and the ministry of the law are in 



v] The Rule of Faith 75 

agreement. For all these praise one and the same God 
and Father of all, not different Gods, nor one deriving His 
substance from diverse deities, or powers ; but they declare 
that all things were made by one and the same Father, 
who adapts His method to the nature and form of His 
material, and that things, visible and invisible, were 
created neither by angels nor by any Virtue, but by 
God the Father alone \" 

Such a creed, he declares, was handed down from 
the Apostle John. " For John, the disciple of our Lord, 
wishing to put an end to all such ideas (i.e. the doctrines 
of Cerinthus concerning the Word and of the Gnostics 
concerning God) and to establish in the Church the rule 
of truth {regula veritatis) that there is One God Almighty, 
Who made all things by His Word, things visible and 
invisible ; and also showing that by the Word, through 
Whom God made the creation, He also bestowed salvation 
on those who belong to the creation, thus began His 
teaching in the Gospel : ' In the beginning was the 
Word'.'" 

This tradition is more closely identified with the 
Trinitarian creed, which is clearly an expansion of the 
Baptismal formula, in the fourth book^ Speaking of 
the spiritual disciple there, Irenaeus says : — 

" He has a sound faith in One God Almighty, of 
Whom all things are, and in the Son of God, Jesus Christ 
our Lord, by Whom are all things, and in His Economy, 
by which the Son of God became man ; and has also a 
firm faith in the Spirit of God, Who gives us the know- 
ledge of the truth. Who has expounded the dispensation 
of the Father and the Son, by which He dwells in every 
generation according to His Father's Will. And this 

1 11. 35. 4. * III. II. I. ' IV. 33. 7. 



76 The Rule of Faith [ch. 

tradition has been received by the Church which has 
come down to us from the Apostles. This tradition 
neither suffers addition nor curtailment ; it is based 
upon the true reading of Scripture ; is a lawful and 
careful exposition of the faith in harmony with the 
Scriptures and is the true gnosis, the teaching of the 
Apostles, and the ancient system of the Church through- 
out the world." 

Such are, perhaps, the earliest recorded summaries of 
the rule of faith which Irenaeus learnt from his teachers, 
Justin, Ignatius, and others, and which he is careful to 
inform his readers is based upon Scripture and apostolic 
tradition. Reading such statements with the additional 
light of the different passages in the treatise that explain 
and interpret them, we find they bear a closer resem- 
blance to the present form of the Nicene than to the 
Apostles' Creed. Irenaeus, for example, emphasizes the 
Unity of the Father and the Unity of the Son. The 
Father is the Maker of all things visible and invisible by 
His Word, the Only-Begotteji. Jesus is Verus Deus — 
Very God. He is begotten of the Father. He became 
incarnate for our salvation, and He will return with 
glory to judge all men. And the Holy Spirit {qui 
vivificat homineni) is the Giver of Life' ; who expounds 
the dispensations of the Father and the Son". 

Irenaeus also emphasizes the catholic' and the apo- 
stolic character* of the Church, and the connection of 
Baptism with remission of sins". It is also remarkable 
that the word Homooiision, which makes its appearance 
after many adventures in the Nicene Creed, is to be 
found in The description of the Theory of Emanations 
' V. 9. I. 2 IV. 33. 7. 3 III. „_ g. 

* V. 20. I. ' I. 21. 2. 



v] The Rule of Faith ' yy 

in II. 17. 2 (ejusdem substantiae). The expression, 
a lumine lumina, lights from light, may also have sug- 
gested the Nicene phrase, "light of light" (^w? e/c 
<^a)To?). These features are distinctly Eastern and 
Nicene ; and have a special interest for Irish Churchmen, 
as they have left their impress on the Creed which 
St Patrick gives in his Confession^, the oldest summary 
of faith of the Celtic Church. This will be more fully 
discussed in another place. 

1C.4. 



CHAPTER VI 

THE OMNIPOTENT FATHER 

In the preceding chapter we have seen something of 
the history of the Christian Creed, as it grew in definite- 
ness and content, Hke a noble flower developing its 
latent possibilities while wrestling for existence with its 
environment of heresy and unbelief. In this, we shall 
endeavour to show how this wonderful bloom of faithful 
Christendom sprang from one noble stem — the belief in 
the One Omnipotent Father — the parent truth of all 
theology, following our author's example, for he said : 
" It is fitting that I should commence with the first and 
most important subject, God the Creator Who made 
heaven and earth, but Whom these blasphemers describe 
as the fruit of a defect, and that I should demonstrate 
that there is nothing above or after Him, and that 
influenced by none, but of His own free will. He created 
all things, since He is the only Creator and the only 
Father, Who alone contains all things and causes all 
things to exists" Commencing with this subject, we 
shall collect the principal passages that illustrate Irenaeus' 
treatment of it. The keynote of his theology is found 
in these words : " By the Word of the Lord the heavens 
were established," and again : " All things were made 



CH. vi] The Omnipotent Father ' 79 

by Him and without Him was notliing made." " There 
is no exception or deduction to be made, but the Father 
made all things by Him, things visible and invisible, 
objects of sense or of intellectual knowledge, temporal 
and eternals" The Father is thus the One efficient 
cause of all things. He is also the substantial cause. 
" Whereas the heretics seek to explain the substance of 
matter and to trace its history from the tears and smiles, 
the terror and sadness of Achamoth, it is more credible 
and rational to attribute the substance of created things 
to the power and will of Him Who is Lord of all"." 
Again, we read in II. 10. 4 : "In this point God showed 
His superiority to man, that while man cannot make 
anything out of nothing, but only out of matter already 
existing, yet He Himself called into existence the sub- 
stance of His creation, although previously it had no 
existence." Content that God made us, we should not 
ask how He did the deed : " For we shall not go far 
astray if we assert the same thing about the substance 
of matter, namely, that God produced it. For the 
Scriptures teach us that God has the supremacy over all 
things. But whence or in what manner He produced it. 
Scripture has not declared. It is therefore not becoming 
in us to make endless guesses and conjectures on this 
subject. We should rather leave such knowledge in the 
hands of God HimselP." 

Moreover, God is always the same, and man develops 
by growing towards Him*- " In this respect God differs 
from man, that whereas man is made, God makes. And, 
indeed, He Who makes is always the same, but that 
which is made must receive beginning and middle, 

> I. 12. I. ' II. 10- 3' 

' II. 28. 7. * IV. II. 2. 



8o The Omnipotent Father [ch. 

addition and increase. And God is the benefactor, 
while man obtains the benefit. God also is perfect in all 
things, being equal and like to Himself, for He is all 
light and all mind and all substance, and the source of 
all that is good; whereas man makes progress and 
advances towards God. For as God is ever the same, 
man, when found in God, shall ever grow towards Him. 
God never ceases to enrich and to confer benefits upon 
man, while man never ceases to receive these benefits 
and to be enriched by God." 

The perfections of the Creator are extolled in IV. 38. 
3, where we read : " God is the Uncreated OneS and 
therefore He hath the pre-eminence in all things. He 
only is uncreated, the first of all things and the primary 
cause of the existence of all, whereas everything else is 
in subjection to Him. But subjection to God is im- 
mortality, and immortality is the glory of the Uncreated ^ 
For the Uncreated is perfect and He is God." And in 
a beautiful passage' he describes the gifts of God to 
man : " In the beginning God formed Adam, not because 
He stood in need of man, but in order that He might 
have beings upon whom He might confer benefits. 
Nor did He require our service when He bade us follow 
Him, but for this cause He bestowed salvation upon us. 
For to follow the Saviour is to partake of salvation, and 
to walk in the light is to receive light. They who are 
in the light do not themselves give the light, but are 
enlightened and illumined by it. And so service rendered 
to God profits Him nought, but He confers upon those 

1 (cai /nipos i.yivvqToi: cf. Patrick Confessio 4, non est alius Deus... 
praeter Deum Patrem ingenitum. 

^ Reading WJo Ayevvirrov or ar/evriTov (for &yhvriToi) to correspond 
with the Latin "gforia infecti." 

3 IV. 14. 1. 



vi] The Omnipotent Father * 8i 

who follow Him life and incorruption and eternal glory. 
For He is rich, perfect, and in need of nought. But man 
needs communion with Him^." Furthermore, the Creator 
alone is without beginning^ " For He is Himself un- 
created, without beginning or end, and lacks nothing, 
but is self-sufHcient. Moreover, He grants to others the 
very existence they have. The things, however, which 
have been so made by Him have a beginning. But 
whatever has had a beginning is liable to dissolution, 
and is subject to and in need of Him Who made it, and, 
therefore, must be differently named even by those who 
have but a moderate discernment. For He alone, Who 
made all things, may together with His Word properly 
be called God and Lord. Therefore, the things which 
have been made have no right to this name, seeing that 
it belongs to the Creator." 

And again, when writing on the immortality of the 
soul, he says : " Let them learn that God alone, Who is 
Lord of all, is without beginning and without end, and 
is always and ever the same unchangeable Being. But 
all things that come from Him, and are made by Him, 
receive a beginning of existence and are inferior to Him 
Who formed them, because they are not unbegotten^" 

Upon the stock question of the ancient Church 
" Why could not man have been made perfect } " Irenaeus 
makes this comment^ : " If any should ask : ' What, 
could not God have made man perfect from the begin- 
ning.?' let him learn that to God, inasmuch as He is 
always the same and unbegotten, as regards Himself, 
all things are possible. But created things must be 

' Homo indiget Dei communione. This thought is developed in 
St Augustine's Confessions I. i, fecisti nos ad te et inquietum est cor 
nostrum donee requiescat in te. Cf. x. 6 et seq. 

"^ III. 8. 3. * 11. 34. -i. * IV. 38. 1. 

H. I. 6 



82 The Omnipotent Father [cH. 

inferior to Him Who made them because of their later 
origin ; for it was not possible for things recently created 
to be uncreated, and therefore they fall short of per- 
fection." 

There is thus scope for development or evolution. 
But it is a God-directed development; as he writes i; 
"Wherefore Plato is more pious than Marcion and his 
followers, because he admitted that the same God was 
both just and good, having power over all things, and 
executing judgement Himself, and thus expressed it : 
' And God, as He is the ancient Word and possesses the 
beginning, the middle, and the end of all existence, does 
everything rightly, moving round in the way of nature, 
while justice, the avenger of the Divine law, follows Him.' 
And again, he pointed out that the Maker and Framer 
of the universe is good, saying "the good never feel 
envy^" and maintaining that "the goodness of God, 
not ignorance, nor an erring aeon, nor the fruit of a 
defect, nor a weeping mother, nor another God or 
Father, is the original cause of the creation of the 
world^" 

While the heretics are inferior to Plato, they take 
their stand with the degenerate Epicureans. For, " like 
the Epicureans, they invent a God who does nothing 
either for himself or others, and so exercises no providence 
at all*," and "while professing that Jesus is their Master, 



1 III. 25. 5. 

^ Timaeus p. 29, dyoSis rfv, ayad^ de oiSels irepl oiSevis oiS^Tore 
iyyiyverai <pd6vo$. 

' Origen also recognizes the truth of a Platonic saying, when arguing 
with a Gentile philosopher, quoting the words: " It is a hard matter to 
find out the Maker and Founder of the Universe, and it is beyond the 
power of him who has found Him to declare Him to all men," adding his 
own correction — " without the aid of Him Who is sought." — C. Cels. vn. 9. 

* in. 24. 2. 



vi] The Omnipotent Father 83 

they emulate the philosophy of Epicurus and the in- 
differentism of the cynics \" 

Having thus described the Creator as Father, the 
Perfect One, the Cause of the Creation, without begin- 
ning or end, omnipotent and invariable, he now proceeds 
to discuss certain problems connected with the Divine 
Existence. The first of these concerns the relation of 
the foreknowledge to the predestinating will of God. 
In II. 2. 4 he says : " But He Himself in Himself in a 
manner that we cannot either describe or imagine, 
predestinating all things, formed them as He pleased, 
and gave to them all the harmony and order they 
possess.'' Thus Irenaeus recognized the fact that every- 
thing proceeds from the Will of God. " That will and 
energy of God," he said in a sermon " On Faith," of 
which a fragment is cited by Maximus of Turin ^, " is the 
efficient and foreseeing cause of every time, place, age, 
and nature.'' That Will of God is further described in 
another fragment given by Massuet : " Seeing that God," 
he wrote, " is vast, and the Architect of the world and 
Almighty, He made it by a Will, vast, creative of all 
things and omnipotent, potentially and actually, with 
the novel result that the entire fulness of the things 
which have been produced might come into existence 
although they had as yet no existence." " This Will of 
God," he declares, " is dominant and must rule all things 
which are in subjection to Him'." In the words of Dante, 

The Will Divine is man's tranquillity. 
It is the sea to which creation moves*. 

In another place' he writes : " With God there is nothing 
done without purpose and meaning." In II, 5. 4 he 



' n. 32. 1. " See Harvey ii. 477. ' 11. 34. 4. 

« Paradise, Canto XI. i. * IV. 21. 3- 



6—2 



84 The Omnipotent Father [CH. 

declares that the Will of God is supreme and completely 
independent of any external necessity, and thus He 
differs from the Homeric Zeus, who was compelled to 
act against his will. And in II. 29. 2 he says that 
" God has the will to do kindness, because He is good, 
and the ability to perform, because He is all-powerful." 

The Will of God is, therefore, creative, almighty, 
purposeful, supreme, beneficent, and independent. But 
how is this independent will related to the foreknowledge 
of God } This was the problem with which Irenaeus 
was compelled to grapple. For the Marcionites sought 
to demonstrate that the God of the Old Testament was 
the author of sin, because He is represented as having, 
morally speaking, blinded Pharaoh and his servants. 
In this difficulty Irenaeus followed the lead of that 
apostle who based the predestination of God upon His 
foreknowledge, in the sentence " whom He did foreknow, 
He also did predestinate^" — a text, however, which is 
not cited by Irenaeus — as he was followed, in his turn, 
by Augustine, who declared " there can be no predesti- 
nation without foreknowledge, but there may be fore- 
knowledge without predestination^." In IV. 29. 2 he 
wrote : " If even now God, Who foreknows all things and 
is aware how many will not believe in Him, has handed 
them over to their unbelief and turned His face away 
from such, leaving them in self-chosen darkness, what 
wonder is it if He then surrendered Pharaoh, who never 
would have believed, and his people to their unbelief?" 
See also II. 28. 7 where he says in effect : " We must leave 
the cause of man's revolt and sin to God, and not investi- 
gate the origin of evil, which God, indeed, foreknew would 

1 Rom. viii. 29. =" De Orth. Fide ni. 30. 



vi] The Omnipotent Father • 85 

come, and for which He prepared punishment." And 
in V. I. I he writes : " We were therefore predestinated 
according to the foreknowledge of the Father, we, who 
as yet were not, to be, and were made the firstfruits of 
His workmanship." 

Irenaeus maintained in his argument the integrity of 
the human freedom of will. In conclusion, he bids us 
depend upon the Will of God, which is not the author 
of evil but of everything that is good, is directed by 
internal love, not by external necessity, and is aware of 
our condition and has made wise provision for our wants. 
But we must not resist it like the Egyptians, whose 
hardening of heart was the result of their own self-will, 
nor question the omnipotence and omniscience of the 
Maker. 

Another problem that exercised the mind and pen of 
Irenaeus was the relation of the justice to the goodness 
of God. Marcion, of Sinope, it will be remembered, 
was perplexed by the apparent contradictions which he 
discovered in the scriptural character of the Divine, and 
could devise no other method of reconciling love with 
grace, forgiveness with justice, and the God of the Old 
Testament with the God of the New, than by imagining 
two Gods, the God of Judaism, merciless and judicial, 
and the Father of Jesus, merciful and benign. In his 
argument with Marcion^ Irenaeus declared that he had 
put an end to Deity by thus dividing God into two — 
" for the judicial God, if He has not the goodness which 
is the characteristic of Deity, is not God, because he is 
no God in whom goodness is wanting ; and, ©n the other 
hand, if He is good, but lacking in judicial authority, 

' III. 25. 3. 



86 The Omnipotent Father [CH. 

He has not the stamp of Divinity. The love and justice 
of God cannot, then, be separated ; He is Lord and 
Judge and Ruler of all. He is good and patient and 
merciful, and saves whom it is right to save {salvat quos 
oportet). His goodness fails Him not, being used in justice, 
and His wisdom is never diminished. He is, therefore, 
both just and good, His mercy preventing and taking 
precedence of His justice (nequejustum immite ostenditur, 
praeeunte scilicet et praecedente bonitate)!' In these words, 
that are reset in the golden verse of Shakspeare : 

And earthly power doth then show likest God's 
When mercy seasons justice, 

Irenaeus declares the co-existence of these eternal 

principles, love and justice, in the bosom of God. " For 

justice demands judgement, but judgement doth wait 

upon wisdom. And in wisdom the Father excels." 

While His power and authority are most exalted and 

supreme^ God is represented as the one entire source 

of all that is good^ As He remains unchanged. His 

goodness to man never ceases^ " It is, indeed, proper 

to God and becoming His character to show mercy and 

pity, and to bring salvation to His creatures. For with 

Him there is propitiation*." Again he writes: "For 

this cause God demands service from us men, that good 

and merciful as He is, He may help those who abide 

in His serviced" In the fifth and second books' we have 

these epigrammatic sentences : " This Creator is He Who 

is the Father by reason of His love, the Lord by reason 

of His power, and the Maker by reason of His wisdom." 

" His riches are unbounded, infinite is His kingdom, and 

His instruction is inexhaustible." " With God," he says, 

^ n. 6. I. ' I. 12. i. * IV. II. 2. 

* Fragment. " IV. 14. 1. ' V. 17. i, II. 28. 3. 



vi] The Omnipotent Father , 87 

" there are exhibited, at one and the same time, power, 
wisdom, and goodness. His goodness and power appear 
in this, that He, of His own will, called into being things 
that had no previous existence ; while His wisdom is 
manifested in His having made all things parts of one 
uniform wholes" A favourite attribute of God with 
Irenaeus is " rich." By this he meant resourceful. " God," 
he says, "is powerful and rich in all things^" " He has 
the power of performing His wishes because He is rich " 
{ebiropoif. Origen goes a step further than Irenaeus in 
identifying goodness and justice as virtues'*. 

Irenaeus would, accordingly, sum up his case very 
differently from Marcion, who declared' that the God 
of the Old Testament is " neither good, nor prescient, 
nor almighty." 

Other leading questions, such as " What was God 
doing before He made the world'.'" and "What is the 
origin of matter' .? " he bids us leave upon the knees of 
God, for Scripture has revealed nothing to us on these 
subjects. But he advised those who speak disparagingly 
of the creation to study the harmonies of the universe, 
and to observe the oneness of purpose and oneness of 
result manifested by the creation of Him "Who has 
stamped His mind upon His work." " Let them, then, 
cease from saying that the world was made by another. 
For it was not possible for one to conceive and another 
to construct what had its conception in the Divine mind. 
As it has been made exactly as it was planned by Him, it 
must be worthy of Him. But to say with the heretics that 
what was mentally conceived and so designed as it was 

' IV. 38. 3. ^ n. 10. 3. ' II. 29. 2. 

* De Princ. II. 5. " See Tertullian, Adv. Mar. II. 5. 

« II. 28. 3. ' II. 28. 7. 



88 The Omnipotent Father [ch. 

made by the Father is the result of defect or the product of 
ignorance were arrant blasphemy ^" " Many and various, 
no doubt, are the different parts of the creation. These 
may seem, when considered separately, to be contrary and 
opposite to one another, but when taken in connection 
with the rest of creation, they form one perfect whole, just 
as the many discordant notes of the lyre make one un- 
broken melody V " Nothing that has been made escapes 
the cognizance of God. And every part of His work, no 
matter how small and insignificant it may be relatively 
to the whole, has received its special nature and rank, 
number and quantity from the transcendent wisdom and 
Divine intellect of the Maker'." 

Of this consonance of creation in which discords are 
resolved into concords and casual pieces are wedded to 
their corresponding parts, the Creator Himself is the 
source. For " it is He Who distributes to everything 
the harmony, order and beginning of their creation, a 
spiritual and invisible order to the spiritual, a celestial 
to the celestial, an angelic to the angelic, a psychical to 
the psychical, and an earthly to the earthly, giving to 
each its proper substance*." 

Origen's teaching is not unlike. It is to the effect 
that we can only see a fragment of a great system in 
which we merely follow the tendencies and signs. While 
universal being is "one thought" corresponding to the 
perfect wiH of God, " we that are not the whole, as parts 
can see but parts — now this, now that^" 

Irenaeus warns us not to look for absolute perfection 
in the creation, nor to reason from the comparative 
imperfections of this world and its phenomena to the 

' n- 3- ■2- " "• ■25- ■'■ ^ n. 26. 3, in substance. 

* II. 1. 4. ° De Princ. 11. 5. g. 5. 



vi] The Omnipotent Father • 89 

imperfection of its Maker, as the Gnostics did. For 
" there is," he writes, " a fundamental difference between 
the Maker and His work. For as He Who is uncreated 
has no beginning, is independent, and eternal, that which 
is created has a beginning, is dependent and transitory. 
It needs Him, and He does not require it^" 

The conclusion the candid reader would draw from 
the teaching of Irenaeus is this, that it is our ignorance 
and limited knowledge that have created these apparent 
contradictions in the nature of things and the character 
of the Creator. These things are, after all, subjective, 
that is, they exist in the mind of the observer ; whereas 
the goodness, wisdom and power of the Maker are 
objective, that is, they are manifested in the world 
around him. Origen likewise maintained the absolute 
causality of God, the super-essential essence to which he, 
like Irenaeus, attributed self-consciousness and will, but 
he went further than the Bishop of Lyons in attributing 
a certain limitation to the omniscience and omnipotence 
of God which seemed to exist in the nature of the case. 
But the limitation to His omnipotence, which the Gnostics 
ascribed to something external to God Himself, was placed 
by Origen in the Divine essence itself. God limits Himself 
to reveal Himself to man ; to be understood by man^ 
and to realize His will' in nature and humanity. Such 
limitation is, therefore, relative, not absolute*. 

Irenaeus would thus turn us from questions of 
ambitious speculation to the real problems of practical 

^ III. 8. 3, in substance. 

2 Kepi apxav II. 9. i, ubi finis non est, nee comprehensio uUa. 
Naturaliter nempe quicquid infinitum fiierit, et incomprehensible erit. 

' C. Cels. V. 23. 

* According to Origen a perfect knowledge of God can only be derived 
from the Logos (C. Cels. vii. 48, also Clement, Strom, v. 12. 85) but a 
relative knowledge may be obtained from the creation (C. Cels. vil. 46). 



90 The Omnipotent Father [ch. 

life, which alone are profitable, and advise us to accept 
intellectual difficulties as a discipline of faith and patience. 
Holding firm the belief in the super-personal unity, the 
infinite power, the inconceivable wisdom and the eternal 
nature of the Creator, he helps us to say with Tennyson 

Hallowed be Thy Name— Hallelujah ! 

Infinite Ideality ! 

Immeasurable Reality! 

Infinite Personality ! 
Hallowed be Thy Name — Hallelujah ! 

Such being Irenaeus' views of God it may be profitable 
to follow for a brief space his method of confuting the 
Gnostic ideas of God by arguments drawn from Scripture, 
nature and reason. He chiefly sought to approach the 
subject from the standpoint of his adversaries and often 
succeeded in turning the point of their own statements 
against themselves. 

In this controversy he, as well as other Church 
writers, followed the line of proving that the Demiurge, 
or Creator, must be the Supreme God, rather than that 
of showing that the Supreme God was the Demiurge, or 
Creator. In the following argument ad kominem, he 
challenges those who style Him the " fruit of a defect " 
to show their superiority to Him, on the principle that 
the better man is proved not by words but by works. 
"What work of theirs, wrought by their 'Saviour,' or their 
' Mother '," he asks, " can they indicate as evincing greater 
power, or glory, or intelligence, than the works of Him 
Who has arranged all these things ? What heavens have 
they made fast > What earth have they established > 
What stars have they sent forth .? What constellations 
have they caused to shine .' What rivers have they made 
to flow and what springs to well forth? With what 
flowers and trees have they adorned the earth, or what 



vi] The Omnipotent Father • 91 

multitude of beautiful animals, rational and irrational, 
have they created ? Who can enumerate all the other 
things which have been established by the power and 
controlled by the wisdom of God? What shall I say 
of those existences which are beyond the heavens, and 
which do not pass away ? To what similar achievement 
of their own hands can they, who are the workmanship 
of God, point us^ ? " 

Irenaeus also wrote upon the thesis^ that an absolutely 
necessary being exists as the cause of the world. " For 
if the Creator did not fashion these things Himself, but, 
as a builder of no ability or a boy learning his first 
lesson, copied them from other originals, where did 
Bythos obtain the plan of that creation which he first 
emitted ? He must have got the design from some one 
superior to himself, and that one again from another, 
and so on ad infinitum. We have thus an endless series 
of causes unless we settle on one God, Who of Himself 
formed the things which are created. We allow that 
men can design useful things, why not admit that the 
God Who formed the world drew the plan and arranged 
the parts Himself^ .' " 

Having thus reasoned from man up to God, he pro- 
ceeds to reason from "the sacred economy of nature" 
to the Creator. " It is certain that the Creator is God. 
Even those who deny Him allow this. On another 
occasion I shall show that the Scriptures and the 
Master teach us of no other Father. For the present, 
the testimony which is given by those who differ from 

1 II. 30. 3. 

^ The antithesis of this thesis, in 'K.z.-at's Antitiomies of Cosmology, is: 
"Neither in this world nor without the world does there exist any 
absolutely necessary being as its cause." 

8 II. 7- 5- 



92 The Omnipotent Father [cH. 

us must suffice. For all men are agreed upon this one 
truth, and the ancients have carefully preserved it from 
the tradition of the protoplast,- and celebrate in their 
hymns the One God, the Maker of heaven and earth. 
Some have been reminded of this fact by the prophets 
of God, while the very heathen have learned it from the 
creation itself For even the creation reveals Him Who 
formed it, and the very fashion of it suggests Him Who 
made it, and the world manifests the mind of Him Who 
designed it^" " The existence of this God having been 
thus acknowledged on all sides, and testified to by all 
men, that Father whom they have invented is undoubtedly 
non-existent and without witness^" Even the heathen 
admit the providence of God. " For God exercises a 
providence over -all things, and imparts counsel to all, 
being present to all who acquiesce in His moral discipline. 
It follows, then, as a matter of course, that the subjects of 
His vigilance and government should be acquainted with 
their Ruler, seeing that they are not devoid of reason, but 
have been endowed with intelligence through His fore- 
thought. And so certain of the Gentiles, less addicted 
than the rest to idolatry and licentiousness, were moved 
by His providence, slightly, indeed, but sufficiently to be 
convinced that they should call the Maker of this Universe 
' the Father Who cares for all men and regulates the 
affairs of this our world'.' " Compare Tertullian's words 
on " the testimony of a soul naturally Christian," in the 
Apologeticus and the De Testimonio Animae. 

To this Creator, the Spirit, the Master and the 
Scriptures bear testimony. " For no other God and 
Lord was proclaimed by the Spirit save Him Who as 

' II. 9. I, Ethnicis vero ab ipsS conditione discentibus. 
^ II. 9. i. 3 III. 25. 1. 



vi] The Omnipotent Father .93 

God, with His Word, rules over all things. No other 
is acknowledged by those who have received the spirit 
of adoption, that is, who believe in one true God and in 
Christ Jesus, the Son of God. No other was called God 
or Lord by the apostles. No other was confessed by 
our Lord Himself, Who bade us call no one Father but 
Him Who dwelleth in the heavens. Who is the one God 
and the one Father^" " For is it not clear to all that if 
our Lord had known many Fathers and Gods, He would 
not have taught His disciples to know one God and to 
call Him alone Father ? And if He is wrong. He is re- 
sponsible for the mistake of His peopled" Again he 
writes : " The Biblical names for God, such as Elohim, 
Adonai, Sabaoth, are not names of different Gods, but 
express different manifestations of one God and Father, 
Who contains all things and gives existence to all things'." 
Having shown how the Gnostic position on the 
relation of the Father to the Creator is opposed to 
revelation, and nature itself, he proceeds to demonstrate 
that it is also contrary to logic. " They who maintain 
that their Father merely extends to the verge of that 
which is external to the Pleroma, and that the Demiurge, 
on the other hand, does not reach so far as the Pleroma, 
represent neither as perfect and comprehensive. For 
the former will be deficient in respect to the world that 
has been created outside the Plerom'a, while the latter 
will be deficient touching the ideal world which was 
formed within the Pleroma ; and so neither of them can 
be God of- all. For the greatness of God must be 
complete and all-embracing*." The supreme God of 
the Gnostics lacks absolute dominion, seeing that they 

1 IV. 1. 1. ^ IV. 1. 1. '" n. 35. 3. 

■> IV. 19. 3. 



94 The Omnipotent Father [cH. vi 

speak of a kenoma, or a void space, by which His power 
is bounded, and in which another God holds sway. 
Accordingly, the supreme God is limited, and as that 
which limits must be greater than that which it limits, 
the other power by whose province he is circumscribed 
must be the real God\ " And so the name of omnipotent 
will be reduced to an absurdity, impious as such an 
opinion may seem''." With regard to the assertion 
that the world was made in opposition to the will of the 
Supreme Father by angels, such inability in the Supreme 
One would expose Him to the charge of weakness and 
carelessness, he argues, as He would seem to lack either 
the necessary power, knowledge, or vigilance'. But if 
the world was made with His consent by other powers, no 
matter how many or how distant from Him, He would 
still be, in the very last resort, the author of the 
creation, just as the king who made the preparations for 
the battle has the credit of the victory*. "We have 
been taught by the Incarnate Word," he says, "to 
worship God after a new manner and not a new God^" 
" Well said Justin in his writings against Marcion ' I 
would not have believed the Lord Himself if He 
announced any other God than the Creator''." 

In this way Irenaeus proved from their own state- 
ments that the Supreme God of the Gnostics was lacking 
in those attributes of omnipotence, omniscience and 
absolute causality which, as he showed, are implied in 
the true conception of God. 

^ n. I. 2. 2 II. 1. 5. 3 II 2 ^ 

* II. 2. 3. » III. 10. 2. « IV. 6. i. 



CHAPTER VII 

MAN'S KNOWLEDGE OF GOD 

God the Father is omniscient, but man's knowledge 
is limited. " It were presumption to assert that we are 
acquainted with the unspeakable mysteries' of God. 
Even our Lord declared that the day and hour of 
judgement were not known to Him. And if He the Son 
was not ashamed to ascribe the knowledge of that day 
to the Father, why should we be ashamed to leave with 
Him the great questions that perplex us^?" 

Irenaeus warns us frequently against the danger of 
speculation and the desire to know everything. " If we 
cannot discover the reason why of everything, let us 
remember that we are infinitely inferior to God, having 
but received grace in part and having not yet reached 
equality with our Maker. Just as he who was but formed 
to-day is inferior to Him Who is uncreated ; in the same 
measure is he inferior in regard to knowledge to his Maker. 
For thou, O man, art not an uncreated being, nor didst 
thou 'always exist with God, as His Word hath done. 
But through His superlative goodness thou hast received 
the beginning of thy creation and dost gradually learn 

• Irenaeus used this word in its Greek sense of something relatively 
concealed, rather than in the Judaeo-Christian sense of something super- 
naturally revealed. 

2 II. 28. 6, in substance. 



96 Man's Knowledge of God [ch. 

from the Word the dispensations of the God that made 
thee. Keep, therefore, within the bounds of thy know- 
ledge and seek not as one who knows not what is good 
to surpass thy Maker: for He cannot be surpassed. 
Neither attempt to seek what is above Him, for such 
cannot be found. For thy Maker is not to be kept 
within bounds. Nor supposing that thou wert able to 
traverse all this universe in all its height and depth and 
length, wouldst thou be able to find any other than the 
Father Himself If thou wilt try to do this, thou wilt 
fail and fall into the madness of conceiving thyself 
higher and wiser than thy MakerV 

In another passage Irenaeus bases his argument on 
an analogy between nature and revelation, saying in effect: 
"If we cannot find the solution of every scriptural difficulty, 
we should not be driven to seek another God. For that 
were gross impiety. All such matters we should leave 
in the hands of God. Many things are beyond our ken. 
These we commit to God. What reason can we give 
for the ebb and flow of the tide, the migrations of the 
birds, the formation of rain, lightning, thunder, the winds, 
the clouds, and the phases of the moon^? If, then, there 
are certain phenomena of nature which are hid from us, 
there is no ground for complaint if the scriptures contain 
many things too deep for us, which must be left to God, 
so that He should ever be the teacher and man the 
pupils" As Origen said some years afterwards, " He 
who believes the Scriptures to have proceeded from 
Him Who is the Author of nature may well expect to 
find the same sort of difficulties in it as are found 

' 11. 25- 3- 

^ These phenomena are no longer mysteries. 
^ II. 28. 3, in substance. 



vii] Maris Knowledge of God • 97 

in the constitution of nature^" We also notice how 
appropriately the analogical argument is used by 
Irenaeus, not so much to supply proofs as to repel 
disproof, not so much to convince as to confute. Bishop 
Butler developed this argument and its use in his Analogy. 

Irenaeus agreed with the Gnostics in holding that 
the greatness of God is ineffable and inexhaustible, but 
he maintained that " He is by no means unknown ; for 
all things learn through His Word that there is one 
God, the Father Who contains all things^" He may be 
indescribable ; but yet we can reach after Him. " He 
is Reason, but not like our reason. He is Light, but 
not like that which we know as light. In no other respect 
is there any comparison between human littleness and the 
Father's greatness. We, indeed, speak of Him according 
to the love we bear Him, but our words cannot convey our 
sense of His greatness^" Like Whichcote*, he held that 
man was made by God to know Him and to grow like Him. 

But, he points out, the Gnostics, in strange incon- 
sistency with their principles, ventured to name the 
Nameless, to expound the nature of Him Who is un- 
speakable and to search out Him Who is unsearchable^, 
and, accordingly, they fell into the mistake of attributing 
the psychological conditions of man to the Maker. 
Hence they personified the various powers and attributes 
of God under the name of aeons or agencies, an absurdity 
which becomes apparent when we attempt, in a similar 
fashion, to personify the affections and qualities of man, 
for we cannot separate understanding from thought or 
thought from understanding^ 

1 Philocal. p. 23. ^ IV. 20. 6. 

3 II. 13. 4. ' Bishop Westcott's Essays, p. 379. 

= I. 15- 5- ° "• 13- I- 

H. I. 7 



98 Mans Knowledge of God [ch. 

Irenaeus protests, like Origen, against anthropo- 
morphism, saying: "They are ignorant of God who 
attribute human affections and passions to the Father 
of all, Whom they declare to be unknowable and never 
to have lowered Himself so much as to create the world. 
Whereas if they knew the Scriptures and had been taught 
by the truth, they would know, at any rate, that God is 
not like man, and that His thoughts are not as our 
thoughts. For the universal Father is superior to all 
human emotions and passions. His essence is simple, 
not composite, He is homogeneous, wholly like and equal 
to Himself, since He is all understanding and all spirit, 
all reason and all thought, all sight and all hearing, 
and altogether the source of all that is good\" 

There are no differences or distinctions to be made 
in God. For with Him to think is to perform, as He is 
all thought and all will. " For He is over all, is all Nous 
and all Logos, and continues ever the same self-consistent 
Being^" " He speaks what He thinks and thinks what 
He speaks. And the Mind that embraces all things is 
the Father Himself He, then, who speaks of the Mind 
of God and ascribes to it an origin of its own, as if God 
were one thing and the primal Mind another, makes Him 
out to be a compound BeingV 

But no man can comprehend the vastness and good- 
ness of God. " For it is evident to all," he writes, " that 
no man can declare the goodness of God from those 
things that are made ; and that His greatness is not 
deficient, but contains all things and extends even to us, 
everyone who holds a worthy opinion of God will 
confess^" " He contains all things and is contained by 

1 11. 13. 3. = II. 13. 8. ^ II. 28. 5, 4 IV. ig. 3. 



vii] Mans Knowledge of God , 99 

none'." " With the Name of God the following terms 
are synonymous : understanding, word, life, incorruption, 
truth, wisdom, goodness, and such like^." It is therefore 
absurd to attempt to conceive Him after the fashion of 
men. Everything approaching anthropomorphism and 
anthropopathism in the Deity is therefore condemned 
by Irenaeus. For we cannot infer what God is from 
what man is. 

Such, he points out on several occasions, was the 
fatal mistake of the Gnostics. " They do not know 
what God is," he says, "but they imagine He sits like 
a man, and is contained, but does not contain^" " So 
they have plainly lied against God by combining, with 
some plausibility, the feelings of men, their mental 
exercises, the formation of their opinions and the 
utterances of their words. For while ascribing to the 
Divine Reason the things that happen to man and which 
they experience themselves, they do not seem to say 
anything improper in the opinion of those who have not 
the knowledge of God*." 

Addressing his antagonists in the second book, he 
says : " You Gnostics affirm with apparent gravity and 
honesty that you believe in God, but you declare that 
He is the fruit of defect and ignorance. And this 
blindness has fallen upon you, because you reserve 
nothing for God. You are not satisfied unless you can 
set forth the generations and productions ° of God 
Himself and of His Ennoia, His Logos, His Life 
and Christ. Of these things you form your ideas 
from a purely human experience, not understanding 
' II. 30, 9. 

'' II. 13. 9, coobaudientur Harvey suggests is rendering of (j-u^^Mi-^irowi. 
Perhaps it means that in the Name of God are implied understanding etc. 
* IV. \. I. * II- 13- lo- ° ^8- 4' nativitates st prolationes. 



lOO 



Mans 



Knowledge of God [cH- 

. • <=;h1e to speak in this way of the mind 

f„a ruyrrmS, Sko .. a co„po™a being and 
th t it is quite permissible to say m the case of man 
that thought comes from reason, intention from thought 
and word from intention, and that he is now at rest, now 
silent, and anon acting and speaking. But since God is 
all mind, all reason, all operating spirit, and all light and 
always the same — for so it is right and scriptural to 
think of God — such feelings and psychological distinc- 
tions cannot be found in Him." In another eloquent 
passage^ he asserts that the Father is far removed 
from the affections and passions which prevail anfiong 
men. 

Although the poverty of human language prevents 

man from describing the nature of God, and the weakness 

of human intellect debars man from conceiving His 

goodness, God has many ways of approach to the human 

soul. Of these Irenaeus notes the following. In the 

first place, like his contemporary TertuUian, who appealed 

to the universal nature of the soul's witness to God's 

existence and to the testimony of the "soul naturally 

Christian," he declared that " while no one knows the 

Father except the Son, yet all things are aware of the fact 

of His existence, because the reason implanted in theffl 

{ratio mentibus infixa) reveals to them that there is One 

God, the Lord of alP." This is the a priori proof which 

was afterwards developed by Anselm. In a beautiful 

passage in II. 6. i he touches upon the a posteriori 

argument, the proof of natural theology : " Although 

God is invisible to man by reason of His eminence as 

regards His Providence He cannot be unknown." "The 

' n. 13- 3- 

\ u. 6. I. The Latin has omma, all things. Did Irenaeus believe in 
a universal, all-pervading reason? "cucvc in 



vii] Man's Knowledge of God 'loi 

things which are under the care and governance of that 
Providence must recognize their director^" In another 
passage he appeals to the universal consensus of opinion^, 
pointing out that it has been " the universal opinion of 
men since the earliest age (lit. from the tradition of 
the protoplast) that there is one God, the Maker of 
heaven and earth." " The very heathen have learnt 
of Him from the bare creation, nature itself revealing 
the Author, the work suggesting the Artist, and the 
world manifesting its Designer." " The very system of 
creation to which we belong, so far as we can see it, bears 
witness to the unity of the Creator and Rulerl" " And 
if the natural revelation of God afford life to all things 
living on the earth, much more does the revelation of 
the Father by the Word give life to those who see God*." 

This fine sentence carries us from natural religion 
to religion revealed. " The universal Scriptures, both the 
prophets and the Gospels, openly and clearly proclaim 
the unity of God, Who formed everything by His Word, 
things visible and invisible, things in heaven and things 
upon the earths" " It is by reason of His love and 
infinite kindness that God has thus come within reach 
of human knowledge, not, however, to such an extent that 
we can measure His greatness or handle His essence'." 

The immensa benignitas of Irenaeus reminds us of 
the words of a more modern but equally devout spirit : 

For the love of God is broader than the measures of man's mind. 
And the heart of the Eternal is most wonderfully kind. 

But the personal knowledge of God he regards as the 
highest proof of all. On this point we find much in 

^ in. 25. I. . ., 

2 H. 9. I, omnibus hominibus ad hoc demum consentientibus, veteribus 
quidem, et in primis aprimoplasti traditione banc suadelam custodientibus. 
" 2 11. 27. 2. * IV. 20. 7. ' II. 27- *• " III- 24- ■^- 



I02 Mans Knowledge of God [ch. 

common between the Cambridge Platonist Henry More 
and Irenaeus. The aspiration after a lofty ideal of 
spiritual communion with the Divine is as strong in the 
Greek Father as it was in Henry More, who wrote with 
fervour in his Exorcism of Enthusiasm of "that true and 
warrantable enthusiasm of devout and holy souls," that 
" delicious sense of the Divine life " which the spirit of 
man receives ; and who declared that " the oracle of 
God is not to be heard but in His Holy Temple, that is 
to say, in a good and holy man, thoroughly sanctified 
in spirit, soul and body." Both men of mystical mind 
were saved from fanciful speculation and unrestrained 
enthusiasm by practical sense and politics. In both the 
love of God was recognized as the source of man's 
knowledge of Him. As Irenaeus said, "As regards His 
greatness it is impossible to know Him, but as touching 
His love — for it is this that leads us to God through His 
Word — when we obey Him, we always learn that there 
is so great a God, Who hath by Himself established, 
arranged and adorned all things, and Who now contains 
both ourselves and this world of ours'." On another 
luminous page of brilliant thoughts which remind one 
of the beautiful legend, theologum. pectus facit, to which 
Leonidas, the father of Origen, used to give expression 
by kissing the breast of his sleeping boy, and which is 
rendered in the couplet : 

'Tis the heart and not the brain 
That the highest doth attain, 

we read : " In respect to His greatness and His trans- 
cendent glory, ' no man shall see God and live,' for He 
is incomprehensible, but because of His love and kindness 
and infinite power He gives to those who love Him the 

' IV. 20. 1. 



vii] Maris Knowledge of God J03 

vision of God of which the prophets did write. For man 
does not see God as he wishes himself, but when God 
pleases and by whom He pleases, and as He pleases He is 
seen by man. At that time He was seen prophetically in 
the Spirit.and adoptively through the Son.and will be seen 
paternally in the Kingdom of God. For as they who see 
the light are within the light and perceive its brilliancy, 
so are they who see God within God as they behold 
His splendour. That splendour gives them life. They 
therefore receive life who see God. Accordingly, He, 
Who is illimitable^, incomprehensible, and invisible, 
brought Himself within the sight, understanding and 
comprehension of those who believe^, in order that He 
might give life to those who embrace {x'^povvTai) and 
behold Him through faith. For as His vastness lieth be- 
yond our sphere of research, His goodness is beyond our 
power of expression. It is through it that He gives life to 
those who see Him. For it is impossible to live without 
the principle of life, but the means of life are found in 
fellowship with God. To share in God is to see Him 
and enjoy His goodness^" " And through that vision men 
receive immortality, reaching even unto God*." Compare 
with all this the sixth, twenty-sixth, and twenty-seventh 
chapters of the tenth book of Augustine's Confessions. 

In the sixth chapter of this fourth book he tells us 
that this personal revelation of the Father is made by 
the Word. " No man can know the Father save through 
the Word, that is, unless the Son reveals Him. Neither 
can one have knowledge of the Son unless the Father 

' dxiipijTOS, lit. uncontainable. 

2 The Latin translator read iv6piiirois (hominibus) for rots vurToU and 
omitted Sta xitrreus. 

' IV. 20. Si M^TOxi) Se 6eoS iari rb yiviiffKew Sebv /col AiroXaieir Trjs 
XPV^TorqTos a^Tov. 

* IV. 20. 6, per visionem immortales facti et pertingentes usque in Deura. 



I04 Mans Knowledge of God [ch. 

pleases. His Word knows that the Father, as far as 

we are concerned, is unlimited by tune or space, and 

invisible. But He has declared H.m Who cannot 

1 • v,^ Hpclared. And, on the other hand, it is 
otherwise be deciareu. , .., , .' 

the Father alone Who knows His own Word. Accord- 
ingly, the Son reveals the Father through His own 
manifestation. For the manifestation of the Son is the 
knowledge of the Father." Again he writes in the same 
chapter : " It is the Will of the Father that He should 
be known. For they who have received the revelation 
of the Son know Him." And yet again : " For the 
Word reveals the Creator by the creation itself, the 
Maker by the world, the Artist by His work, and 
the Father Who begat by the Son Who was begotten. 
And through the Word Himself made visible and 
palpable, the Father was manifested, although all do 
not believe in Him in the same way ; but all saw the 
Father in the Son, for the Father is the invisible of the 
Son. while the Son is the visible of the Father^" " There- 
fore the Word reveals God to man, and presents man to 
God, preserving, however, the invisibility of the Father, in 
order that man might have an ideal to reach after, and 
at the same time not grow too familiar"." God also 
revealed Himself by the Spirit in visions to the prophets 
" so that man might be prepared and trained beforehand 
to be brought into His glory which shall be afterwards 
revealed to them that Jove God^." " For God will be seen 
by those who have His Spirit and await His advent*." 
" And when man is found in God, he will ever advance 
towards Him*." As Whichcote put it, " God is the centre 
of immortal souls." 

J IV. 6. 6, invisibile etenim Filii Pater, visibile autem Patris Filin<; 
» IV. 2o. 7. 3 IV. 30. 8. < IV. 20. 6. = IV. II. r 



vii] Mans Knowledge of God *io5 

In II. 26. I Irenaeus gives us the conclusion of the 
whole matter of man's knowledge of God in these words : 
" It is much better and more profitable, then, to belong 
to the simple and uncultured class and to get near to 
God by love, than to be found to be blasphemers through 
conceit of knowledge. For there can be no greater form 
of arrogance than to imagine oneself superior to the 
Creator. It is, therefore, better, as I said, that one should 
not know a single reason why anything in creation has 
been made, and believe in God and abide in His love, 
than to be inflated with knowledge of this kind and to 
fall away from the love which gives life to man. Better 
far is it to know nothing else save Jesus Christ the Son 
of God, Who was crucified for us, than to be led by 
subtle and hair-splitting questions into impiety." In the 
words of Hooker, the great Anglican controversialist, 
whose comprehensive mind and conservative temper 
remind one of Irenaeus : " Whom although to know be 
life and joy to make mention of His Name, yet our 
soundest knowledge is to know that we know Him, not 
as indeed He is, neither can know Him ; and our safest 
eloquence concerning Him is our silence, when we confess 
without confession that His glory is inexplicable, His 
greatness above our capacity and reach. He is above 
and we upon earth ; therefore it behoveth our words to 
be wary and few." The undertone of subdued devotion 
that murmurs in the Treatise is an overture to the 
passionate music of Augustine's Confessions : " I love 
Thee, Lord, with a conscience sure and steadfast. With 
Thy Word Thou hast pierced my heart and I have 
learned to love Thee^." 

' Non dubia sed certa conscientia, Domine, amo te. Percussisti cor 
meum verbo tuo et amavi te (x. 6). 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY 

The number of passages of the treatise which bear 
on the subject of the Holy Trinity convince us that 
Irenaeus' confession of faith in the Trinity Holy and 
Undivided of Three Persons and One God was not 
merely the distinguishing feature of his belief, but the 
real foundation of his doctrines of God and man. Plato 
emphasized the transcendence of Deity in relation to 
the Creation, while Aristotle founded his system on the 
immanence of Deity in relation to the human intelligence. 
It was the merit of Irenaeus to see that the secret of life 
and thought and spirit lay in the reconciliation of these 
two ideas, the transcendence and immanence of God as 
He is above and as He is within the human personality, 
and that this reconciliation was made by the Christian 
doctrine of the Trinity. 

The relation of the Trinity to the Creation is ex- 
pressed in one lucid phrase " The Father is verily above 
all, and He is the Head of Christ, but the Word is 
through all things, and He is Himself the Head of the 
Church, while the Spirit is in us all, and He is the living 
water which the Lord gave to those who believe in Him 
and love him and know that there is one Father above 
all things and through all things and in all things^." 

^ V. i8. 2. In IV. 31. 2 he speaks of the Word of God 3.i pater generis 
humani. 



CH. viii] The Doctrine of the Trinity poy 

" Man is formed," he writes, " after the image of God, 
and he is fashioned by His Hands, that is, by the Son 
and the Spirit'." The Son is also called the Hand of 
God by Athanasius^, a metaphor which, as Newman 
pointed out', is to be distinguished from the Arian term 
organon (opyavov), which implies separateness and de- 
pendence, whereas the term ' hand ' implies consubstan- 
tiality. Irenaeus develops this idea in IV. 20. i, where 
he says : " God did not require the assistance of such 
(i.e., angels or ' virtues ') to effect His purpose, inasmuch 
as He had His Hands. For with Him are always 
present the Word and Wisdom, the Son and Spirit, by 
Whom and in Whom He freely and spontaneously made 
all things, to Whom also He said : ' Let us make man 
in Our image and likeness,' taking from Himself the 
substance of the creatures, the form of things made and 
the type of all that adorns the earth." See also V. 6. i, 
" God shall be glorified in His work, which He has 
adapted and conformed to the image of His Son. For 
through the Hands of the Father, that is, the Son and 
the Spirit, man, and not merely a part of man, is made." 

In V. 18. 2, he says : " The Father bears the creation 
and His Word at the same time." In V. 18. i, the 
Father is described as containing the entire Pleroma* 
The Word's relation to the creation is similarly expressed 
in III. ir. 8, "The Word is the Artificer of all; He 
sitteth upon the cherubim and contains all things*." In 
V. 18. 3 he writes: " It is the Word of God that is the 
actual Creator of the world. But He is our Lord Who 
in recent times was made man. Who in an invisible 

' IV. Praef. 3. 

^ Orat. II. 31, IlaT^p, lis Si4 X"?*') ^^ '"'? AiSvv elpyiaaro rk TrAiira. 

' Athanasius II. 450. 

* awix/^v, Lat. continet. 



io8 The Doctrine of the Trinity [ch. 



manner 



_„ contains {continet) all things created, and is 

immanent {infixus) in the whole creation and governs 
all things. Therefore He came visibly^ unto His own 
and was made flesh. For it is He Who has authority 
over all things from His Father-', since He is both the 
Word of God and very man. Who communicates with 
invisible beings after a rational manner (rationaliter), 
but (for the visible creation) ordains a law which is 
apparent to the senses {sensualiier), namely, that all 
things should persevere in their order. He reigns 
manifestly over things that are visible and pertain to 
the life of man." Notice the nice distinction here drawn 
between the relations of the Son of God to the invisible 
creation and to the visible. 

The work of the Holy Spirit in the creation is also 
described. For as a Hand of the Father He helped to 
mould and fashion it. He is also said to " contain all 
things ^" " The Spirit of God, by Whom all things 
were made, was united to and blended with the flesh, 
His workmanship*." " There is, therefore, One God 
Who by the Word and Wisdom created and arranged 
all things ^" 

The relation of the Divine Persons to the economy 
of man's salvation is more developed. Each Person of 
the Adorable Trinity plays His own special part in the 
scheme of revelation and redemption, and yet there is 
no trace of Tritheism. " For God is mighty in all 



' In visibiliter (Erasmus and Gallasius), but cf. v. i8. i, visibile Verbum. 

' "The difference between orthodox writers and heretics regarding the 
Son's ministration is that the former mean a ministration internal to the 
substance and an instrument connatural with the Father, and Arius meant 
an external and created medium of operation.'' Newman, Aihan. n. 217. 

3 V. 2. 3, ToO criic^X'"''"''' Tb, TdfTa, qui continet omnia. 

" IV. 31. 2. 5 IV. 20. 4. 



viii] The Doctrine of the Trinity 409 

things, being seen at that time prophetically' through 
the Spirit, being seen also adoptively through the Son, 
and yet to be seen paternally in the Kingdom of Heaven. 
The Spirit truly prepares man for (or inY the Son of 
God ; the Son leads him to the Father, and the Father 
confers upon him incorruption with a view to eternal 
life, which comes to everyone from the vision of God'." 

The following passage is found in IV. 20. 6 : " God, 
as the prophets declared in figures, shall be seen by men 
who bear His Spirit and await His (v.l. Christ's) coming. 
Thus was God revealed. For God the Father is mani- 
fested through all these operations, the Spirit working, 
the Son administering, and the Father approving, while 
man's salvation was being accomplished ^" 

The Divine Persons cooperate together for the 
spiritual well-being and resurrection of man. "The 
whole plan of the salvation, which concerns man, was 
made according to the will of the Father so that God 
might not be conquered nor His work weakened^" 
It is through the Word that man will ascend and " be 
made after the image and likeness of God"." " So that 
we might recover in Christ Jesus what we had lost in 
Adam, namely, the being after the image and likeness 
of GodV This work is also attributed to "the whole 
grace of the Spirit" that will make man after that 
image and likeness in V. 8. i and to the Son and Spirit 
acting together in V. l. 3. In V. 6. i it is through 
the Spirit that we obtain the similitude of God. " The 

' Prophetice, v.l. prophetiae. 

2 In Filium (Ar.) ; in Filio (CI. and Voss). 

* IV. 20. 5. 

* Spiritu quidem operante, Filio vero administrante, Patre vero compro- 
bante, homine vero consummato ad salutem. 

5 m. ,3. I. 6 V. 36. 1. ' III- 18. I. 



I lo The Doctrine of the Trinity [ch. 

Word of the Father and the Spirit of God united 
{adunitus) to the ancient substance of Adam's creation, 
made {effecit) a living and a perfect man, holding 
(capientem) a Perfect Father." The singular of the 
participle and verb here implies a solidarity of union 
and work. He proceeds to say, "For Adam did not 
formerly escape the ' Hands ' of God to which the 
Father said, ' Let us make man in our image and like- 
ness.' And therefore at the end His ' Hands ' perfected 
a living man, so that man (Adam) may be after the 
image and likeness of God\" 

Again, in V. 2. 3 it is the Word of God Who giveth 
our bodies awakening (eyepa-Lv) ; but in V. 7. 2 we read, 
" our bodies rising through the Spirit become spiritual 
bodies." The Lord giveth life (vivificat^ to man in ill. 23. 
7. The Spirit also giveth life iX^no'troiovv) in V. 12. 2. 
In V. 36. 2 he records the following description of 

The great world's altar-stairs 

That slope thro' darkness up to God. 

" The presbyters, the disciples of the Apostles, held that 

man ascended through steps of this kind, namely, through 

the Spirit to the Son and through the Son to the Father, 

and that in the course of time the Son will deliver up 

everything to the Father, so that God will be all in alP," 

The Son's work may be described as a scala ascensionis, 

a ladder of ascent to the Father. He sums up this 

argument in the fourth book^, where he says: "Wherefore, 

then, in all things and through all things there is one 

God, the Father, and one Word, one Son and one Spirit, 

and one salvation to all that believe on Him''." 

' V. I. 3. 2 V. 36. -i. 3 IV. 6. 7. 

* Massuet omits unus. It is not in CI., Ar. or Voss MSS. Filius is 
also omitted by Stieren. But utms is necessary to the sense and balance of 
the sentence. 



viii] The Doctrine of the Trinity 1 1 1 

Thus the Three Persons of the Trinity work together 
for the salvation, resurrection and glorified life of man. 
The part of the Divine Persons in this work is further 
specified in the course of the treatise. " Thus were they 
perfected," he writes, " who knew one and the same God, 
Who from the beginning to the end is ever a present 
help to the human race by means of various dispensa- 
tions'." The same phrase is used of the Word in 
IV. 28. 2 : " For there is one and the same God the 
Father and His Word, Who has been an ever present 
help to the human race by means of many dispensations ^ 
doing many things and saving from the beginning those 
who are saved. These are they who love God and 
follow the Word of God as far as circumstances allow*." 
The relation of the Father to the Son is given in III. 6. 2 
and IV. 38. 3, where the Father is represented as com- 
manding and the Son as performing^ The same 
thought occurs in BasiP, in Hippolytus, Contra Noetum, 
14, and in Athsinasius, Orat. I. 63, where the Son is 
represented as receiving and executing orders'. 

The Word is more particularly described in III. 16. 6 : 
" The Only- Begotten Word of God, Who has been 
always present with the human race, united and blended 
with His own creation according to the Father's good 

' in. 12. 13. 

' Semper assistens humano generi variis quidem dispensationibus. 

' Secundum suum genus, which may mean according to their race or 
birth or sex, generation or light. 

* Tov ^lev HaTpbs eidoKOUVTOi Kal KeKeijovTOSf toO 5^ Tlov irpdcrffovTos Kol 
STjiuovpyoSi'Tot. Cf. III. 8. 3, Cui ergo praecepit ? Verbo scilicet. 

' de Spir. S. 38. The Lord ordering (irpoaTiaaovTo) and the Word 
framing. 

' irpoiTTarTSiievos Kal {nrovpywv. The latter expression is objectionable, 
as it implies that the Son was created as an instrument (iTovpyds). It is 
doubtful if Athanasius used it in his own person, as Orat. u. 24 and 31 are 
against the idea that the Son was an Bpyavov of the Father. Srjiuovpyciv 
(Irenaeus' word) is not open to the same objection. 



1 1 2 The Doctrine of the Trinity [cH. 

pleasure, and Who became flesh, is our Lord Jesus 
Christ Himself, Who suffered for us and rose again on 
our behalf, and will come again in the glory of the 
Father to raise all flesh and to manifest salvation." 
" For He it is Who descended and ascended on account 
of the salvation of men\" " It was the very Word of 
God Who conversed with the patriarchs before Moses 
in a manner suitable to His Divinity and glory. But 
for those under the law He appointed a liturgical and 
sacerdotal order.... Afterwards being made man, He 
sent the gift of the Heavenly Spirit upon the whole 
earth, sheltering us under His wingsV 

Furthermore, we cannot be saved without the Holy 
Spirit, " the Lord and Giver of life." " The flesh, when 
destitute of the Spirit, is dead and without life... but 
where the Spirit of the Father is, there is a living man, 
for the flesh possessed by the Spirit, forgetful indeed 
of itself, but assuming the quality' of the Spirit, is made 
conformable to the Word of God. And, therefore, as 
we had our conversation in former times, in the oldness 
of the flesh and in disobedience to God, being without 
the Divine Spirit, let us now, receiving the Spirit, walk 
in newness of life and obedience to God. Seeing, then, 
that we cannot be saved without the Spirit of God, the 
Apostle exhorts us by faith and holy conversation to 
preserve the Spirit of God, lest we lose a share in the 
Holy Spirit and be deprived of the Kingdom of God, 
which, he declares, flesh and blood cannot inherit*." 

Again he says : " Our Lord said, ' Let the dead bury 

1 III. 6. 3, descendit et ascendit propter salutem hominum. Cf. 
Nicene Creed. 

2 HI. II. 8. 

3 Qualitatem, character, cf. St Patrick, Conf. 6, opto fratribus... scire 
qualitatem meam. '' v. g. 3, 



viii] The Doctrine of the Trinity 113 

their dead,' with reference to those who have not the 
Spirit, Who quickens man ; whereas, on the contrary, 
as many as fear God and trust in the Advent of His Son 
and through faith have the Spirit of God established in 
their hearts, these shall justly be called pure and spiritual, 
because they have the Spirit of God, Who cleanses man 
and raises him to the life of God\" In the same para- 
graph he describes the saving and forming work of the 
Spirits In IV. 33. 14 he shows how the Spirit cooperates 
with the Word in the salvation of man. " He who is, 
indeed, spiritual," he says, " will interpret all these sayings 
of the prophets by referring them to that special part 
of the dispensation of God to which they belong, and by 
exhibiting the completeness (integrum corpus) of the 
work of the Son of God, and by always recognizing the 
same Word of God, Who has been but recently made 
manifest to us, and by ever acknowledging the same 
Spirit of God, Who has been but newly poured out upon 
us in these last times, even from the beginning of the 
creation to its end, from Whom they who believe in 
God and follow His Word receive that salvation which 
is from Him." 

Irenaeus, however, differentiates the functions of the 
Word and the Spirit of God, regarding the Spirit as 
present in all the dispensations of God, of which the 
Word is Author. " The Spirit of God," he writes, " has 
been with men from the beginning in all the dispensations 
of God, announcing things future, revealing things present, 
and recording things past'." "But of both covenants, 
one and the same Householder, even the Word of God, 

^ V. 9. I, 1. 

' Altero quidem salvante et figurante qui est Spiritus. 

' IV. 33. I. 

H. I. 8 



114 The Doctrine of the Trinity [cH. 

our Lord Jesus Christ, Who conversed with Abraham 
and Moses, Who restored to us our liberty afresh, and 
multiplied His grace upon us, is Author" {produxity. 
In IV. 20. 7 the Word is described as "the dispenser 
of the Father's grace," while the Spirit is represented 
as One Who has prepared man for the vision of God 
by the words of the prophets. " The Spirit of God 
forms and adapts us beforehand for obedience to God, 
that so being sanctified and instructed in the things 
pertaining to God by this preparatory discipline we may 
at last obtain the vision of God and the glory to be 
afterwards revealed in those who love Him " (IV. 20. 8). 

A fine summary of his faith is given in Apostolic 
Preaching, c. vi. : " And this is the rule of our faith, the 
foundation of our building and the security of our walk, 
even God the Father, ingenerate, uncontainable, invisible, 
one God the Creator of all. This is the foremost article of 
our faith. The second is the Word of God, the Son of God, 
Christ Jesus our Lord, Who appeared to the prophets, 
in accordance with the form of their prophesying, and ac- 
cording to the course of the decrees of the Father, through 
Whom everything came into existence. Who at the end 
of the times appeared in visible and palpable manner^ 
to bring all things to perfection, and sum up all things 
in Himself. A Man among men He became in order 
to destroy death, to make manifest the life, and to bring 
about a fellowship of union between God and man. 
The third article is the Holy Spirit, through Whom the 
prophets have prophesied, the fathers have learnt the 
things of God, and the righteous have been led in the 
way of righteousness, and Who shed Himself abroad at 

' IV. 9. I. 

^ a. per ipsum Verbum visibilem et palpabilem factum, IV. 6. 6. 



viii] The Doctrine of the Trinity 1 1-5 

the end of the times, in a new fashion upon mankind 
all over the world while He restored' men for God." 

We now come to a rather complicated problem, in 
which it is difficult to mark the exact positions of 
Irenaeus — the relation of the Divine Persons of the 
Godhead to one another. In some passages the Persons 
are coordinated ; while in others there seems to be a 
subordination in the relations of the Son to the Father 
and of the Spirit to the Son. Generally speaking, they 
are coordinated as touching their Divinity ; but sub- 
ordinated as regards their Divine functions. For 
example, " The Word received an universal authority 
from the Father^" In iv. 7. 4 he describes the Son 
as the "Offspring" {progenies) and the Spirit as the 
" Similitude " {figuratid) of the Father. Basil varies 
this sentence, writing " Christ is the image of God, but 
the Spirit is the image of the Son'." As a rule 
Similitude {elho<i and fiop(j)ij) is descriptive of the Divine 
Substance in the person of the Son*. Again, the special 
function of the Son is the revelation of the Father, 
" The Father bearing witness to the Son and the Son 
announcing the Father'." See also IV. 6. 3 " The Father 
sends, but the Son is sent..." The Son administers 
all things for the Father, carrying them through from 
the beginning to the end, and without Him no man can 
know the Father. For the Son is the knowledge of the 
Father " (IV. 6. 7). " The Father is the invisible of the 
Son and the Son is the visible of the Father'." " The 
Father revealed Himself to all by making His Word 

' Emeuerte, Lat. renovavit. Cf. Agnitio Dei renovat hominem 
(V. 12. 4.) ^ V. 18. 2. 

' Adv. Eunom. p. n6. * Newman, Athanasius, ii. 404. 

' III. 6. 2. Cf. Mt. xi. 27. Jn. X. 15, etc. 
' IV. 6. 7. 



ii6 The Doctrine of the Trinity [ch. 

visible to alP," These complementary expressions " the 
visible " and the " invisible " save Irenaeus from the 
Arian taint which was afterwards attached to the word 
6t«&)i/ or image. They show that he means that the 
Son is not a separate or external copy, but the exact 
reproduction of the Father. He advises his readers 
to avoid all abstruse and speculative questions con- 
cerning the relations of the Father and the Son. " For 
if the Son was not ashamed to reserve for God the 
knowledge of that day — we should not hesitate to 
reserve our difficulties for God. If any one should, 
therefore, say to us, ' How was the Son produced by 
the Father?' we reply that no one understands that 
production {prolatio = -Kpo^oXr]), generation, name or 
revelation, or whatever term is employed to express 
that ineffable generation... Seeing that His generation 
is ineffable, they are far astray who discuss generations 
and productions. The theory of emissions is no great 
discovery, nor is the ascription of an ordinary human 
process to the Only-Begotten a remarkable revelation'." 
In the Apostolic Preaching^ he thus comments on 
Is. liii. 8, "Who shall declare His generation?": "This 
is added lest we should despise Him on account of His 
enemies and His sufferings. For He Who hath suffered 
all this hath a generation that cannot be described, for 
by His generation Is meant His origin, that is, His 
Father, Who is ineffable and indescribable." Cf. IV. 33. 
1 1, " He has an indescribable generation." This is after 
Justin, Apol. I. 51. In III. 6. 2 he expresses the oneness 

1 IV. 6. 3. 

» n. 1%. 6. Justin had used wpopXtieiv yivvrifia oi the Son {TrypA. 61). 
Greg. Naz. {Orat. ig. 2) called the Father 6 irpopoKeis of the Spirit, but 
Irenaeus condemned the expression on account of its Valentinian tinge, 
and is followed by Origen and Athanasius. ' c. 70. 



viii] The Doctrine of the Trinity Tiy 

of the relation of the Father and the Son thus : " The 
Son is in the Father and has the Father in Himself," 
and in IV. 4. 2 he quotes with approval the saying : " The 
Father who is without measure (immensum) found His 
measure (mensuratum) in the Son : for the Son is the 
measure of the Father, seeing that He contains Him^," 
an expression which here denotes identity rather than 
limitation. It was not " the lingering effects of anti- 
theological interest^" but rather a strong sense of the 
reverence that is due to God, that restrained him from 
following in the steps of those who, to use his own 
phrase, would " play the part of midwife " to the In- 
carnate Word'. 

In some passages we find the Holy Spirit subordinated 
in His functions to the Father and the Son. The 
Spirit is " the Spirit of the Father, Who purifies man 
and raises him to the life of God *." He is the prophetic 
Spirit', " Who proclaimed through the prophets the 
dispensations of God*," " Who introduces {a-Krjvo^aTovv) 
in each generation the dispensations of the Father and 
the Son, according to the Father's will," IV. 33. 7. Harvey 
renders aKijvo^arovv as exponens after the Latin qui... 
exposuit. Massuet gives the sense in /^rwM/^ai'«V. But 
the Greek word implies management as well as exposition, 
originally referring to stage-management. It is through 
the Spirit as well as the Word that God is manifested. 
"Sic igitur manifestabatur Deus...Spiritu quidem 
operante, Filio vero administrante" (iv. 20. 6). It is the 

' Mensura enim Patris Filius quoniam et capit eum. 

' Hamack, History of Dogma, II. 266. 

* II. 28. 6. Hunc quasi ipsi obstetricaverint (Gr. /laiciJeffffoi). 

* V. 9. 1. 

' III. II. 9... But see also IV. lo. 4, "prophetae ab eodem Verbo 
propheticuin accipientes charisma," etc. 
' I. 10. I. 



ii8 The Doctrine of the Trinity [ch. 

Spirit Who gives the knowledge of the truth (IV. 33. 7), 
and Who shares in the ministrations of the Son (IV. 7. 6). 
Ministrat ei...FiHus et Spiritus sanctus. The Word, 
however, has a higher function than the Spirit. In 
V. 20. 2 he writes : " The Word uniting man to the 
Spirit and placing the Spirit in man, is made the Head 
of the Spirit and gives the Spirit to be the Head of 
the man." " The Father bearing His creation and His 
Word at the same time and the Word borne {portatum) 
by the Father give the Spirit to as many as the 
Father wills^." In V. 36. 2 he cites with approval the 
saying of a presbyter that "we ascend through the 
Spirit to the Son and through the Son to the Father." 
According to Dr Harnack", "he inverts this relation 
in IV. 38. 2, and says we ascend from the Son to the 
Spirit." But there he is interpreting the words of 
St Paul — " I have given you milk to drink, not food, 
for ye were not able to bear it " : " That is," he remarks, 
" ye have been taught the parousia of the Lord in the 
form of man, but the Spirit of the Father doth not yet 
rest upon you." These words refer to the progressive 
nature of the revelation of God, not to any subordina- 
tion of the Son as God to the Spirit as God, and are 
based on the Son's own teaching of Him Who was with 
His disciples and was to be in them'. See also iv. 38. i 
where he describes the reception by man of the Word, 
" the perfect Bread of God," as a preparation for the 
reception of " the Bread of immortality which is the 



^ V. 18. 2. praestat. The singular shows that the Father and the Son 
are one in the giving of the Spirit. Cf. iv. 20. 5, "qui portant Spiritum 
ejus": V. 8. i, " assuescentes capere eX portare Deum," and the names 
Qeotj>6pos and Xpurroipipos. But IV. 19. i, "ut portaret Deum," of the 
Virgin has another sense. 

^ Hist, of Dogma, II. 267. ' John xiv. 17. 



viii] The Doctrine of the Trinity .119 

Spirit of the Father." In the Apostolic Preaching he 
says : " For the Son, as He is God, receives from the 
Father, that is, from God, the throne of the everlasting 
kingdom and the Unction as none of His fellows do, 
and the Unction is the Spirit with whom He is anointed V 
And in III. 24. i of the Treatise he says : " The com- 
munication of Christ, that is, the Holy Spirit, the earnest 
(arrha = appa^atv) of incorruption, and the confirmation 
of our faith and the ladder of ascent to God." In in. 10. 3 
Christ is called the Spirit ; " Salvator quoniam Filius 
et Verbum Dei ; salutare autem, quoniam Spiritus : 
Spiritus, enim V!\Q;\x\t, faciei nostrae Christus Dominus^." 
In other passages the same function is applied to both 
the Second and the Third Persons of the Holy Trinity, 
For instance, he says : " The whole grace of the Spirit 
which is given to man by God will render him like to 
God and will accomplish the will of the Father, for it 
shall make man after the image and likeness of God'." 
The concluding words of the treatise: " That the creature 
should contain the Word and rise to Him, passing 
beyond the angels, and be made after the image and 
likeness of God," attribute this work to the Word. See 
also IV. 33. 4 " The Son of God after Whose likeness 
man is made." The work of regeneration is, indeed, 
more particularly attributed to the Spirit, but it is also 
assigned to the Word. See V. i. i, "Who pours out 
the Spirit of the Father upon the union and communion 
of God and man, bringing down God to man by means 
of the Spirit, and raising man to God by His Incarnation, 

' c. xlvii. Cf. III. 18. 3, unguentetn Patrem et unctum Filium et 
ttnctionem qui est Spiritus (a reference to Isaiah Ixi. i). 

* Thren. iv. 20. Heb. "The breath of our nostrils," LXX. wveS/ia 
VfMffihirov ijfxwv. 

» V. 8. I. 



1 20 The Doctrine of the Trinity [ch. 

and bestows upon us truly and effectively immortality 
at His coming, through communion with Himself." 
They both are 'Hands' of the Father. Each plays 
His part in the revelation of the Father, the creation 
and regeneration of man, but the Word more particularly 
in the redemption ^ and the Spirit more especially in the 
sanctification of man'-*. " Spiritus Dei vivificat et auget 
hominem." But see Apostolic Preaching, c. vii. " The 
Baptism of our Regeneration passes through these three 
points, while God the Father graciously brings us to 
the new birth by means of His Son through the Holy 
Spirit. For they who carry the Spirit of God are led 
to the Word, that is, to the Son, but the Son leads them 
to the Father, and the Father permits them to receive 
incorruption. Therefore it is impossible without the 
Spirit to see the Word of God, and without the Son 
one may not approach the Father, for the knowledge 
of the Father is the Son, and the knowledge of the Son 
is through the Holy Spirit, but the Son gives the Holy 
Spirit in accordance with His own office and the Father's 
will to those whom the Father wills." This passage is 
a repetition of IV. 20. S of the treatise : " The Spirit 
preparing man for the Son of God, and the Son leading 
him to the Father, and the Father giving incorruption 
unto eternal life which follows from the vision of God " 
— where the distinct Functions of the Divine Persons 
are recognized. 

The Trinity thus remains an integral whole, the 
Persons are not confused and the substance is not 
divided. " God is over all the only Uncreated One, the 
First of all and the Cause of all. And the Father 

^ V. I.I. 

^ IV. 20. 10. 



viii] The Doctrine of the Trinity ,121 

approving and commanding, the Son ministering and 
moulding, and the Spirit nourishing and increasing, man 
makes gradual advance and ascends to the Perfect One, 
that is, he becomes nearest to the Uncreated One, for 
the Perfect One is Uncreated and He is God\" Their 
union is metaphorically described in III. 18. 3 : "In the 
name of Christ is implied the Anointer, the Anointed 
and the Unction with which the Anointment has been 
made. It is the Father Who anoints, the Son Who is 
anointed, and the Spirit Who is the Unction, as the 
Word declares by Isaiah, ' The Spirit of the Lord is 
upon Me because He hath anointed Me,' thus indicating 
the anointing Father, the anointed Son and the Unction 
Which is the Spirit." The Holy Spirit is also styled 
Unction in Apostolic Preaching, c. xlvii. Dr Harnack ^ 
says of the former passage that " here the Personality 
of the Spirit vanishes." But see III. 6. i, an explanation 
of Ps. xlv. 7 : " Therefore God hath anointed Thee." 
" The Spirit," he says, " designates both the Father and 
the Son by the name of God, both Him Who is anointed, 
the Son, and Him Who doth anoint, that is, the Father." 
In IV. 33. 14 there is a strong passage on the Personality 
of the Spirit, " Who has been outpoured upon the human 
race from the very beginning until the end, from Whom 
they who believe in God and obey His word receive 
that salvation which He imparts." In the Apostolic 
Preaching the Third Person is yet more definitely 
described, e.g. c. xlix. : He takes form and shape in the 
prophets according to the character of the persons 
concerned, and sometimes speaks on the part of Christ 
and sometimes utters the word on the part of the 

1 IV. 38. 3. ' l-c. n. 267. 



122 The Doctrine of the Trinity [ch. 

Father." This is one of Justin's ideas. See Apol. I. 56. 
In the seventeenth chapter of the third book of the 
treatise there is an interesting dissertation on the Holy 
Spirit, " Who descended on the Son of God now become 
the Son of man, growing accustomed with Him to dwell 
in the race of man, the handiwork of God, renewing 
them in the new life of Christ, and carrying into effect 
the Father's will in them,'' " Who has power over all 
nations to admit to life and to unfold the New Testa- 
ment," " Who leads into unity the distant tribes and 
offers the first-fruits of every nation to the Father." 
" By the Spirit our souls receive unity." " Which gift 
receiving from the Father, the Lord sendeth into all 
the world the Holy Spirit." In III. 17. 3 the words 
" And where we have an Accuser, there we also have 
the Paraclete" (Advocate), imply personality, for the 
work of such a Paraclete is personal. 

" The eternity of the Son and Spirit is not absolute," 
writes Dr Harnack, when criticising this system. The 
fact is that Irenaeus never had to face the question : 
" Was there a time when the Son was not ? " as later 
theologians have had to do. He distinctly states that 
the Son was always coexistent with the Father^ " For 
thou art not uncreated, O man, neither wast thou 
always existing with God, as His own Word was." And 
he writes in ill. 18. i : " Non tunc (at Incarnation) coepit 
Filius Dei existens semper apud Deum." But it is a 
question whether semper implies the eternity of the 
Son a parte ante, semper being vague. Would he say 
with Tatian, Theophilus and Tertullian that " The 
Word was not fully a Son from eternity, but that when, 

' II. 25. 3, "semper coexistebas Deo." 



viii] The Doctrine of the Trinity , 123 

according to the Divine counsels, the creation was in 
immediate prospect, and with reference to it, the Word 
was born into Sonship and became the Creator, etc.'"? 
The answer may be found in IV. 20. 3 : " We have 
proved in many ways that the Word, Who is the Son, 
was always with the Father, and that the Wisdom, Who 
is the Spirit, was present with Him before the whole 
creation," and in IV. 20. i : " For the Word is always 
with Him, and Wisdom also, that is, the Son and the 
Spirit, by Whom and in Whom He (the Father) made 
all things." He does not contemplate a time when 
either was not, nor does he hesitate to regard either 
as Divine. In his prayer for his readers he felicitously 
invokes the Triune God : " Wherefore I invoke Thee, 
Lord God of Abraham... Who art the Father of our 
Lord Jesus Christ... Who madest heaven and earth. 
Who rulest over all, the only true God, above Whom 
there is no other God, grant by our Lord Jesus Christ 
the ruling power of the Holy Spirits" He also describes 
these relations in IV. 20. 4, where the Word announces 
the Divine plan of revelation and redemption for man 
" so that man having embraced the Spirit of God may 
pass into the glory of the Father." In his interpretation 
of the parable of the Good Samaritan he thus expounds 
the relations of the Divine Persons : " The Lord com- 
mended to the Holy Spirit His man (i.e. humanity, 
hominem) who had fallen among thieves, upon whom 
He Himself had shown mercy, giving two denaria', so 

' Newman, Athanasius, li. 233. Hippolytus in his tract against Noetus 
goes further than Irenaeus. He appears to hold that the Logos which 
dwelt in the Deity from eternity as His unspoken word assumed a separate 
hypostatic existence at a definite time by the will of God. V. art. Hippolytus 
Romanus, Smith and Wace, D.C.B., vol. III. 97. 

' in- 6. 4- ■ ^ , 

' Also neuter in Plautus, Rudms, 2. 5. 27, as m (jreek. 



1 24 The Doctrine of the Trinity [CH. 

that we, receiving through the Spirit the image and 
superscription of the Father and the Son, might make 
good use of the coin placed to our credits" In this 
passage we have a popular exposition of the relations 
of the Divine Persons to One Another and to man. 

Perhaps we may be allowed to insert here the 
conclusions to which we were led by our examination 
of the doctrine of the Trinity in the Apostolic Preaching 
of Irenaeus, as criticized by Dr Harnack, in Hermatkena\ 
Although the references to Church doctrine are of 
necessity casual and informal in the tract, we found 
many striking parallels to the positions of Irenaeus in 
both Nicene and pre-Nicene writers ; and in response 
to Dr Harnack's criticism we saw (i) that in some 
places the relationship of the Father and the Son in 
Irenaeus appears to be conditioned by the essence of 
God Himself and independent of the sphere of re- 
demption. That the whole economy of God does not 
refer to man {pace Dr Harnack*) in this system may be 
shown by such passages as "Adv. Haer. II. 30. 9, where 
the Son is represented as revealing the Father to Angels 
and Archangels, Principalities and Powers, and c. 9 of 
the tract, where the economy of God includes the angel 
host who glorify the Father in heaven. Although 
Irenaeus regards the nature of Deity from the stand- 
point of man and describes it, therefore, in terms of 
human needs ; and although in consequence the In- 
carnation is his great concern, and his thoughts are 
fixed upon it in such a way that the Divine Persons 

1 in. 17. 3. It is unnecessary to refer to IV. 20. 12 where the three (?) 
spies suggest the Trinity to Irenaeus, as it is founded on an error. 

^ "The Apostolic Preaching of Irenaeus and its light on the doctrine 
of the Trinity." Hermathena, 1907, pp. 307 — 337. 

' Hist, of Dog. 11. 266. 



viii] The Doctrine of the Trinity 125 

have interest for him chiefly as they effect the regenera- 
tion and salvation of men, such passages as the above 
show that man is not altogether the centre of his 
system, and that he could think of the Trinity apart 
from their relations to humanity. He would not say 
that the Word of God came into existence on our 
account, but rather that we were made on His account 
(cf Athanasius Orat. ii. 31). (2) We found that if 
Irenaeus does not describe the absolute eternity of the 
Son in the manner of Athanasius, it is because he does 
not consider the subject from the same metaphysical 
standpoint and does not venture to discuss the ineffable 
genesis of the Son; and that if he makes the Word 
dependent on the supreme will of the Father, he is 
followed by Athanasius (pp. 323 — 324). (3) It seemed 
to us that in the tract the Monarchia of the Father is 
more pronounced (p. 315), while the Being and Initiative 
of the Son assume a unique importance in the economy 
of creation and men (p. 313); and (4) the Personality 
of the Spirit, if at times seemingly confused with the 
Divine Logos (pp. 318, 325), is more vividly described in 
the tract than in the treatise (p. 333). 

In conclusion, Irenaeus' doctrine of the Trinity may 
be summed up as a belief in One and the Same God, 
manifested to men in a threefold Personality, Absolute, 
Eternal, coordinated essentially as touching the Divine 
Nature, but admitting of historical subordination as 
touching the Divine Office. Under the guidance of 
Father, Son and Spirit man is enabled to attain the end 
of his existence. Fashioned by the ' Hands ' of the 
Father, moulded and redeemed by the Son, nourished 
and regenerated by the Spirit, and with the approval 
and under the direction of the Father, man ascends 



126 The Doctrine of the Trinity [ch. viii 

gradually to the Uncreated One. As Origen writes, 
" By the unceasing action of the Father, Son and Holy 
Spirit towards us, renewed at each successive stage of 
our advance, we shall be able, with difficulty perhaps, 
at some future date to gaze upon the Holy and Blessed 
Life\" 



^ De Princ. i. 3. 



CHAPTER IX 

THE INCARNATE WORD 

The Apologists sought to establish the subordinate 
position of Greek philosophy to Christian revelation. 
In this effort they were forced to define the articles of 
the faith more fully and to compile Scripture proofs. 
Of these articles those of the Holy Trinity and the 
Incarnate Word are chief The former doctrine has 
already been considered. The latter, which is the 
subject of this chapter, seems to have been then in a 
state of chrysalis. Zahn in his Marcellus of Ancyra, 
p. 233, points out that Christ as the Word is now 
represented as the thought of the world within the 
mind of God, now as the thought that thinks in God, 
now as an Ego in God's thinking essence, and occasion- 
ally as the reason of God. Such indefiniteness regarding 
the nature and position of the Logos prevailed among 
the Apologists. It was left for Tertullian and Irenaeus 
to return to the Johannine position that the Son of God 
is the Logos. And Irenaeus from a deep study of 
Pauline theology, to which his controversy with 
Gnosticism forced him, declared that the Incarnation 
of the Son of God led to the divinity of man and the 
vision of God. From the time of Irenaeus the Incarnate 
Word became the central doctrine of Christianity and 



128 The Incarnate Word [ch. 

the starting-point of every theological system. It is 
also self-evident that it was his controversy with Gnos- 
ticism that helped him to formulate his Christology, 
to present a view of the definite Personality of Christ, 
and to attach a specific importance to His personal 
influence and thus supplement what was lacking in the 
system of the Apologists. 

Professor Harnack seems to regard the Logos-idea 
as the result of a compromise between Christianity and 
philosophy, a sort of bridge by which Christian tradition 
was united to Greek theology, but with Irenaeus, at all 
events, the religion of the Incarnation was not a mere 
adherence to a rational idea, it was faith in a Divine 
Person as well ; it was not solely a modus vivendi 
between Christian doctrine and philosophy, but it was 
also the motive and inspiration of life ; it was less the 
argument of a Divine thought than the influence of a 
Divine power, and so was a religion rather than a gnosis. 
We, therefore, give him no less than his due when we 
acknowledge that he was not only the first of the great 
ecclesiastical writers who assigned its due significance 
to the Person of Christ, but also the first who made his 
Christology the centre of a systematic cosmology, 
anthropology and theology. It would, indeed, have 
been hard for him not to have made the supreme 
influence in his life the starting-point and goal of his 
theological speculations. 

As the Creator of all things the Word was to sum 
up all things in Himself, all things both in heaven and 
earth" ; and thus to contain the promise and potency 
of the final consummation and reunion of all things 
in Himself In His relation to Humanity, He was not 



IX j The Incarnate Word 129 

to be merely the Revelation of God, as the Apologists 
regarded Him, He was also to be the salvation of man. 
For by His work of recapitulation He summed up and 
brought to a head in Himself the whole human race, 
its every age and condition, its enmity, its suffering and 
its death', that He might redeem it from evil and restore 
it to its pristine state, and " that as it was through a 
beaten man our race descended to death, through a 
victorious Man we might ascend to lifel" The treatise 
concludes with words of strong hope that humanity will 
realize its destiny at the last, and that " ascending to 
the Word and passing beyond the angels, man will be 
made after the image and likeness of God." 

It cannot be denied that the Logos-doctrine of 
Irenaeus in his treatise is a complicated subject. But 
it is fundamental in his system, in which it takes root 
and life as the doctrine of the Incarnate Word, the 
Revealer of the Father, the Redeemer of man, and the 
Creator of the world. In his doctrine of the Word as 
the Revealer of God, he manages to reconcile in one 
Person the antitheses of the Gnostic conception, the 
Creation and the Redemption. The Word of God was 
for him the objective revelation of the Father in the 
works of nature ; and also the means of the subjective 
revelation of God in the hearts of men. In that sense 
He is "the Visible of the invisible Father'." The 
Incarnation is an extension of the Creator's life in His 
creation, and the salvation of man (the microcosm) is 
a continuation of the history of the world (the macro- 

' V. 21. i, 2 ; V. 23. 2. See III. 22. 3 qui omnes gentes exinde ab 
Adam dispersas, et universas linguas, et generationem hominum cum ipso 
Adam in semetipso recapitulatus est. 

^ V. 21. I. 

8 IV. 6. 6. 

H. I. 9 



130 The Incarnate Word [ch. 

cosm). For the Word of God is " the Father of the 
human race^" : the Revealer of the Father and the Son^ 
Who is the minister of the Father, and Who accom- 
pHshes everything from beginning to end', and Who 
sums up His own handiwork in Himself^. In a word, 
He is " all things," in Whom all the fulness (pleroma) 
of the Godhead dwells, and all the creation is re- 
capitulated'^, and in Whom all things were made"." 

Steeped as Irenaeus was in the theology of St Paul, 
he could not but be fascinated by that Apostle's frequent 
and picturesque allusions to the cosmical relation of 
Christ to all things in heaven and earth in the Epistles 
to the Colossians and Ephesians. The chief quotations 
from these letters are : " In Him dwelleth all the fulness 
of the Godhead' " ; " holding the Head, from whom the 
whole body joined together maketh increase^" quoted 
differently in IV. 32. i, and V. 14. 4. He frequently 
expresses the hope that the creation which has shared 
in the ruin shall also participate in the restoration of man. 
At the conclusion of the treatise he says that " the Apostle 
has said that the creation shall be redeemed from the 
bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the 
sons of God. And in all these things and by them all 
the same God the Father is manifested Who fashioned 
man." Again he says that the Word reveals the 
Creator by the creation itself. This universal applica- 
tion of the results of the Incarnation is a proof of the 

^ Pater autem generis humani Verbum Dei^iv. 31. 2 ; cf. "Everlasting 
Father." (Is. ix. o, rather than " Father of booty," see Fuerst under ly .) 

^ per ipsam conditionem revelat Verbum conditorem Deum...et per 
Filium Bum Patrem qui generaverit Filium — IV. 6. 5. 

' IV. 6. 7. 

* Suum plasma in semetipsum recapitulans — IV. 6. i. 

' I. 3. 4. « I. 4. 5. ' Col. ii. 9. 

8 Col. ii. 19. » IV. 6. 6. 



ix] The Incarnate Word J31 

comprehensive nature of his mind and of that power 
of reconciling opposites which was no less remarkable 
in the domain of theological thought than in the world 
of Church politics. 

In the first place he treats the Incarnation as a 
mystery incomprehensible to angels. " For there is 
One Son Who performed the will of the Father, and 
one race of man, in which are wrought the mysteries 
of God, Whom' the angels desire to see, but they cannot 
understand the wisdom of God by which His own 
creation, conformed to and incorporated with His Son, 
is brought to perfection ; or that His Offspring, the 
First-Begotten Word, could descend to the creature and 
be contained by him ; and, on the other hand, that the 
creature could contain the Word and ascend to Him I" 

The glory of the Incarnate Word is described in- 
measured phrase that recalls the language of Ignatius' 
in III. 16. 6, where the Divine Nature of the Word is 
set forth as compelling adoration and the human as 
winning affection ; and where also the Word is chiefly 
described as the recapitulation of our humanity, and so 
as the Lord and Saviour of the race of man. " There- 
fore," he writes, " there is one God the Father, and one 
Jesus Christ our Lord, Who cometh by a universal 
dispensation and summeth up all things into Himself''- 

^ 1 Pet. i. 12, quern evidently mistake for in quae which is read in 
IV. 34. I ; II. 17. 9 ; cis o is the N.T. reading. 

" V. 36. 3. 

' Eph. 7. "There is one Physician, both in the flesh and in the 
Spirit, made and not made, God become flesh, true life in death, of Mary 
and of God, first passible, then impassible," irpwTov iradriTos Kai rSre 
diraSi^s, cf. ad Polycarp. 3. 

* veniens per universam dispositionem et omnia in semetipsum re- 
capitulans (cf. Eph. i. 10). Massuet read in semetipsum, into Himself, 
instead of in semetipso, after Clerm. MS. His note on the meaning of 
dvaKe0o\aiii(ra(rSoi is "id est, universam hominum et angelorum salutem, 



132 The Incarnate Word [cH. 

Man is in every respect the formation of God, and, 
therefore. He recapitulates man into Himself, the in- 
visible becoming visible, the incomprehensible becoming 
comprehensible, the one superior to suffering becoming 
subject to suffering, and the Word becoming man. Thus 
He summeth up all things in Himself, that as the Word 
of God is supreme in heavenly and spiritual and invisi- 
ble matters He may also have the dominion in things 
visible and material ; and that by taking to Himself 
the pre-eminence^ and constituting Himself Head of 
the Church He may draw all things in due course to 
Himself With Him nought is unfinished or untimely... 
And the saying of Paul, ' When the fulness of time was 
come God sent His Son ' means that our Lord being 
one and the same, both rich and great, accomplished 
in their appointed order and season and time all things 
that existed in the foreknowledge of the Father. For 
He zealously performs the bountiful and manifold will 
of the Father, being the Saviour of those who are being 
saved, the Lord of those who are under His dominion, 
and the God of all things which have been made, the 
Only-Begotten of the Father, both the Christ Who was 
foretold, and the Word of God, Who became incarnate, 
when the time was fulfilled in which the Son of God 
should become the Son of Man." 

Irenaeus does not, however, go as deeply into the 
relations between the Father and the Son as Origen did. 
The latter's doctrine of the generation of the Son was 
summed up by Gregory Thaumaturgus in the phrase 
" One God, One from One, God from God, the impress 

adeoque cunctam omnium rerum caelestium et terrestrium summam ad 
unum Christum revocare ac in eo unico comprehendere. " 
1 primatum, later in sense of primacy. 



ix] The Incarnate Word ,133 

and likeness of the Godhead, energising Word, Wisdom 
embracing universal system. Power producing universal 
creation, Very Son of Very Father, the Invisible of the 
Invisible, the Incorruptible of the Incorruptible, the 
Immortal of the Immortal, the Everlasting of the Ever- 
lasting'." But there are many similar phrases in 
Irenaeus, such as "The Visible of the Father" regarding 
the revelation of the Father by the Son. In one striking 
formula — Filius Dei filius hominis factus esf^, Irenaeus 
sums up the Incarnation. In iv. 6. 7 he declares that 
" the Father, the Spirit, the creation, man, the apostate 
spirits, the demons, the enemy, and death itself, all bear 
witness to the fact that the Son is Very God and Very 
Man." 

He has stated in many places the positions of the 
heretics on this subject. The theories held by the 
Gnostics on the subject of our Lord were many, but by 
no school of Gnosticism was He regarded as really human 
or really divine. The shortest summary of their views 
is in III. 16. 8 : " They are outside the pale of Chris- 
tianity who, under the cloak of knowledge, understand 
Jesus to be one and Christ another, and the Only- 
Begotten a third, different from whom again is the 
Word, and say that the Saviour is yet another creature, 
being an emission from those who became aeons in a 
state of degeneracy." These divisions of the Personality 
and Nature of Jesus Christ give point to the words of 
our Creed — " And in one Lord Jesus Christ." 

In the passage III. 11. 3 we have a summary of the 
various heresies on the Virgin-birth. "According to 

' 6.iipo.ro% Aopdrov Kal &(ftdaf>TOS d^ddfnou Kal dOdvaros ddavdrov koX 
dtSiOS d'iSiov, see Caspar! Quellen, vol. IV. p. lo. 
^ in. 19. I. 



134 The Incarnate Word [ch. 

them," he writes, " neither the Word nor Christ nor the 
'Saviour' was made fleshi. They hold that neither 
the Word nor the Christ ever came into this world, that 
the Saviour never really became incarnate or suffered, 
but that He descended as a dove upon that Jesus who 
was of the dispensation, o ex t^? olKovofx,ia<;, and then 
when He had proclaimed the Unknown Father, He again 
ascended into the Pleroma. Some, indeed, assert that 
this dispensational Jesus^ whom they say passed through 
Mary as through a tube {ax; Sta aa>kr)vo<i, I. 7. 2), became 
incarnate and suffered ; while others again declare that 
Jesus was born of Joseph and Mary, and that the Christ 
of the upper realms, being without flesh and the capacity 
of suffering, descended upon him. But according to no 
school of the Gnostics did the Word of God become 
incarnate." Either He was not a true Word or it was 
not a true incarnation. The Ritschlian school have 
attempted to solve the problem by maintaining an 
historic Christ with the religious value of God, that is, 
as a fact not of science but of faith. We are grateful 
for the presentation of a non-metaphysical, historical 
view of Christ, but such must be constructed on historical 
principles. There can be no religious value for us in 

^ caro (cApi), synecdoche for human nature in its entirety. Apollinaris 
founded his theory upon the fact that the Scripture says "the Word was 
ms.Ae Jiesh " — not spirit, and therefore put the Logos into the place of the 
KoOs or rational spirit of His humanity. This was his solution of the 
difficulty of two integral persons forming one person, an dv9pwT6-ffeos, 
which he declared was a monstrosity. His own theory necessitated a 
truncated humanity. We regard the personality of Christ as residing 
wholly in the Logos. 

" The body of this dispensational Jesus is described in i. 9. 3 as 
"psychical but fashioned by a wonderful arrangement so as to be seen 
and felt." Harvey says (I. 60), "Thus we may trace back to the Gnostic 
period the ApoUinarian error, closely allied to Docetic, that the body of 
Christ was not derived from the Blessed Virgin but that it was of heavenly 
substance, and was only brought forth into the world by her instrumentality." 



ix] The Incarnate Word 135 

that which has no metaphysical foundation, unless we 
prefer fancies to facts. Dr Denney {Studies in Theology, 
p. 14) well says, " We must as rational beings try to 
clear up in our minds what is necessarily involved in 
the existence among men of a person who has the 
religious value of a God. Theologians who refuse to 
go beyond this are invariably found to cover, under the 
guise of a religious indifference to metaphysics, a positive 
disbelief of everything which gives Christ's Godhead an 
objective character. They do not admit the super- 
natural birth ; they do not admit the pre-existence 
taught by St Paul ; they do not admit the doctrine of the 
Incarnation of the Logos, at least as taught by St John." 
Irenaeus again refers to the Incarnation in III. 19. I, 
driving home his argument with Scripture proofs, and 
saying : " They who regard Him merely as man and 
the son of Joseph, continuing in the bondage of the old 
disobedience, die apart' from the Word of God and 
without the freedom that is given through the Son. For 
ignoring Him Who is God with us, the Virgin-born 
Emmanuel, they are deprived of His gift, which is 
eternal life ; and not receiving the Word of incorruption, 
they remain in mortal flesh ; and become debtors to 
death through not accepting the antidote of life... They 
despise the Incarnation of the pure generation'' of the 
Word of God, and robbing man of that ascent to God, 
show ingratitude to the Word of God, Who became 
incarnate on their behalf For the Word became man^ 

^ nondum commixti Verbo=xw/'is A^ou, lit. not yet blended with the 
Word. Harvey offended by the expression suggests conjuncti. An 
equally strong word counitus {(rvvrivdidi)) had been used in the previous 
chapter, III. i8. 7, of the union of God and man by Christ the mediator 
in the Clerm. and Voss. MSS., for which Grabe read conjuncius. 

* purae generationis, not conception. Irenaeus is thinking of the Divine 
operation, not of the human conception in the birth of Jesus. 



136 The Incarnate Word [ch. 

that man, united with' the Word and receiving His 
adoption, might become the son of God. For we could 
not otherwise enjoy incorruption and immortality unless 
we had been united to incorruption and immortality. 
And how could this be done unless incorruption and 
immortality were first made that which we are so that 
the corruptible might be absorbed by the incorruption, 
and the mortal by immortality, and that we might enjoy 
the adoption of sons ? " 

In IV. 33. 4 he argues with the Ebionites and 
demands, " how can they be saved unless He be God 
Who wrought them salvation upon earth ? And how 
will man pass up to God if God did not pass into man? 
And how will he escape the generation of death unless 
he enter a new generation, wondrously and unexpectedly 
given by God, even a regeneration by faith .-' Or what 
adoption will they obtain from God remaining thus 
in this their natural human state ? " 

In this passage, only in the Latin, one might imagine 
at first sight that he was speaking of salvation in 
connection with the Virgin. The whole passage runs 
so : " quemadmodum autem relinquet mortis genera- 
tionem, si non in novam generationem mire et inopinate 
a Deo, in signum autem salutis, datam, quae est ex 
Virgine per fidem, regenerationem ? " This sentence 

^ rhv Xbyov x'^P'^"'"''' commixtus Verbo, Latin. The Greek is taken 
from the Dialogues of Theodoret (i. 4. S3)> who seems to have altered 
the Greek word of which commixtus is a rendering, owing to the support 
it might give to the views of Eutyches, then in vogue. The Greek word 
was either avyxpadels or avyKeKpa/t^vo!. At Constantinople 448 ii curiyxv'os 
^I'lDtris, the union without confusion of the natures, was maintained against 
the monophysitism of Eutyches. Massuet holds that commiscere may 
express union without confusion, quoting from a sermon of Leo who was 
an opponent of Eutyches, "ita ut natura alteri altera misceretur." The 
reference here is not, however, to the Incarnation but to that union of 
God and man which resulted from it. See previous note on "nondum 
commixti Verbo." 



ix] The Incarnate Word J37 

is difficult owing to the parenthesis, in signutn autem 
salutis. The reference is obviously to Is. vii. 14, " The 
Lord Himself shall give you a sign : Behold the virgin 
shall conceive (or, is with child) and bear a son and shall 
(or, thou shalt) call his name Immanuel." Massuet 
himself did not see an allusion here to the Virgin but 
to the Church. He wrote : " per Virginem autem hie 
intelligit auctor non B. Mariam Christi matrem, sed 
Ecclesiam, uti constat ex loco parallelo infra n. 11. 
Verbum caro erit et Filius hominis, purus pure puram 
aperiens vulvam, earn quae regenerat homines in Deum, 
quam ipse puram fecit" (iv. 33. 11). "Nee enim haec 
appositio : earn quae regenerat homines in Deum uUi 
alteri quam Ecclesiae convenire potest." He felt the 
inconsistency of making Irenaeus attribute the regenera- 
tion of mankind to the Virgin, which he nowhere does. 
In III. 22. 4, when contrasting Eve and Mary as two 
women, he said that, " the Virgin through her obedience 
became the means of salvation (causa facta est salutis) 
both for herself and the whole human race." And he 
proceeded to assert that the Lord^ who was born the 
firstfruits of the dead, receiving into His own bosom the 
ancient fathers, regenerated them into the life of Go(P. 
In III. 21. 5 the partus, child or bearing, of the Virgin 
being unexpected (inopinatus) is the God-given sign of a 
salvation also unexpected (inopinata). In III. 19. 3 
the sign is that a virgin' should conceive, and bear 

' Primogenitus enim mortuorum natus Dominus. 

' Cf. II. 22. i. omnes, qui per eum (Christum) renascuntur in Deum. 

2 The Hebrew '^'JPi' 'almah has been rendered correctly irapeivoi in 
LXX., but by Aquila arid Theodotion (converts to Judaism) wrongly veavn. 
By some the reference is found in Is. viii. 3. Taking the word on its own 
merits we find it used in Gen. xxiv. 4.^, of the " virgin" destined to be 
the bride of Isaac ; in Ex. ii. 8, of Miriam who was a virgin, in Ps. Ixviii. 26, 
of virgins playing in a Temple procession ; in Cant. i. 3, vi. 8, of unmarried 



138 The hicarnate Word [ch, 

a son, and that He (hunc partum) should be Dens nobiscum 
(Immanuel). In III. 20. 3, Emmanuel Himself, the Virgin- 
born, is the sign of our salvation, " Ergo signum salutis 
nostrae eum qui ex Virgine Emmanuel est." Grabe 
adds dedii. In several passages the human descent of 
the Virgin-born is referred to, e.g. III. 16. 2 eam, quae est 
secundum hominem, generationem ejus ex Virgine; III. 
21. \ generationem ejus quae (est) ex Virgine; III. 21. 5 
Regem, hie est qui ex Virgine... generatus est ; iii. 21. 5 
generationem ejus qui erat futurus ex Virgine ; III. 21. i 
ipse Dominus salvavit nos, ipse dans Virginis signum. 

From these passages we virould infer that the Virgin- 
birth vs^as regarded by Irenaeus as a sign of our 
salvation, but that the Virgin-born Himself, Who needed 
not salvation, is the author of our salvation. There are 
accordingly two ways of explaining the passage before 
us. We may regard the Virgin-birth as a sign of our 
new birth, the regeneration which is by faith. Quae est 
ex Virgine would then refer back to generationem — see 
III. 16. 2 and III. 21. 5 quoted above — not to salutis. 
The rendering would then be as follows : " How will 
he escape the generation of death unless he pass into 
a new generation, wonderfully and unexpectedly given 
by God, like the Virgin-birth — which was the sign of 
our salvation — a new birth which is by faith .' " 

The other way would be to see in this passage a 
reference not to the Virgin-birth but to the Virgin-born, 
qui est ex Virgine, as in ill. 19. i eum qui ex Virgine 
est Emmanuel, and III. 18. 2 qui ex Virgine est Em- 
manuel. This would necessitate the change of quae^ 

women ; and in Prov. xxx. 19, where a pure maid is distinguished from an 
adulteress. Irenaeus (in. 21. 5) remarks that there would be no sign in 
the conception of an adolescentula. 

' quae might easily be explained as the result of attraction to datam. 



ix] The Incarnate Word ^39 

to qui and would read, " A new birth wonderfully and 
unexpectedly given by God — the sign of our salvation — 
Who is the Virgin-born, even a new birth by faith." 
This meaning would be closely connected with the 
immediately preceding sentence, " How shall man pass 
into God, if God did not pass into man " {si non Deus 
in homineni) ? 

It is also worthy of note that we find here the 
expression " ejusdem substantiae '' (o/iooi'o-to?) in this 
passage. It also occurs in II. 17. 2, etc.^ 

Irenaeus continues: "And therefore He Himself in 
the end displayed that likeness (i.e. of God), the Son 
of God becoming the Son of Man, taking up His ancient 
creation into Himself" When arguing with the Mar- 
cionites, who denied the reality of His humanity, and 
asserted that He was the enemy of the Creator, he asks 
how it was that blood and water came from the pierced 
side, and how it was that He declared that the bread 
of this our creation was His body, if He belonged to 
another Father than the Creator''. 

To the question " Who was the Word .■" " Irenaeus 
gives two remarkable answers in v. 18. i and III. 18. i, 
in which he maintains His pre-existence, sets forth His 
relation to the Father, and declares that the Incarnation 
was the extension of His creative and immanent energy. 
In V. 18. I the Word of God is described as the Creator, 
Who is existent all the time in the world, and contains 
after an invisible manner" all the things that are made, 
and is immanent {infixus) in the whole creation. -In 

■^ I. 5. 4, b/iooia-tov rip Sof; I. ii. 3, Sivafus ofiooicrios ; II. 17. i, vel 
generationes Patris erunt ejusdem substantiae ei et similes generatori. See 
also Clement Strom, iv. 13. 91 airoii dfiooiffios. 

2 IV. 33. 2. 

' Or according to His invisibility (secundum invisibilitatem). 



140 The Incarnate Word [ch. 

III. 18. I the Word is described as always existing with 
God, and always present with the human race, with 
which He was united when He became a man subject 
to suffering. And when He became incarnate and was 
made man He summed up in Himself the long line of 
humanity, giving us salvation in a concrete manner, i7i 
compendia, so that what we lost in Adam, namely, the 
being in the image and likeness of God, we might 
recover in Christ Jesus. He is utterly unlike anything 
in the creation. " Nee quidquam ex his quae constituta 
sunt, et in subjectione sunt, comparabitur Verbo Dei " 
(ill. 8. 2). " For the kings that are made are different 
from Him Who made them " (ill. 8. 3). And the Word 
is "the Maker (re^wTT;?) of all things, Who contains 
all things " (ill. 11. 8), "the creator, maker, and fashioner 
{TToirjTfji;) of all things" (l. 15. 6); "Who is by nature 
invisible (iv. 24. 2) " ; " invisible, incomprehensible and 
impassible^ and chief among the supercelestial, spiritual 
and invisible beings, and yet He became visible, com- 
prehensible, and capable of suffering" (ill. 16. 6). 

With regard to His generation Irenaeus deprecates 
the example of those '' who conceive the ' emission ' of 
the Logos or the Word after human analogy, and 
indulge in rash speculation concerning God, saying with 
a grand air that speech (logos) is emitted from thought 
(nous). This is, indeed, true as regards man ; but in 
the case of Him Who is God over all, such an emission 
is not logical, seeing that He is all thought and all 
speech, and has nothing in Himself before or incon- 



1 iiraO'^s, cf. Athanasius, Orai. III. 34, Christ suffered " oi ffe&rriTi 
dXXA <ra.pKl, the Word Himself being iiraSi/is in His nature." See also 
Ignatius, ad Polyc. 3, rhv ijra.Sri...Thv hi 5i' ^^uSs Tra^rfrbv. 



ix] The Incarnate Word 141 

sistent with another, but is altogether equal, similar, and 
homogeneous^" (11. 13. 8). 

It would seem that at times Irenaeus allowed himself 
to use ^wvr) (vox) as a substitute for the Logos, e.g. 
V. 16. I " Pater cujus vox ab initio usque ad finem adest 
plasmati suo" (cf. IV. 28. 2 "Verbum ejus qui semper 
humano generi adest"), v. 15. 4 "(Deus) in novissimis 
temporibus per eandem vocem visitavit exquirens genus 
ejus," and V. 17. i " Significans quoniam ipse est vox 
Dei per quam accepit homo praecepta." This, however, 
does not bear out the theory of Kunze that Irenaeus 
" never understood the expression \6iyo<; rov deov in 
the sense of reason but only in the sense of the spoken 
word" {Gotteslehre des Ir. p. 54). For even if II. 28. 4 
"aliud enim est secundum Graecos logos, quod est 
principale quod excogitat ; aliud organum per quod 
emittitur logos " may " read like an interpolation '' 
(Harvey), he wrote in II. 17. 7 " Nus Pater et Pater Nus. 
Necesse est itaque et eum qui ex eo est Logos, immo 
magis ipsum Nun, cum sit Logos, perfectum et impas- 
sibilem esse" and in 11. 13. i he defines Nus as "ipsum 
quod est principale, et summum et velut principium et 
fons universi sensus." Accordingly, the Word of God 
would seem to be not only the Sermo Dei but also 
the Ratio Dei. Irenaeus distinctly disapproved of the 
Gnostic method of illustrating the eternal Word of God 
by the prolative or generated word of man (generationem 
prolativi hominum verbi), and attributing to Him just 
such another beginning and creation (ll. 13. 8). The 
word prolatio {irpo^oKri), used of the emission of aeons in 
the Gnostic system, had a Valentinian taint. Origen 

1 uno, cf. similimembrius {b/xoioixep^s) u. 13. 3. 



142 The Incarnate Word [ch. 

protested against it^ But Justin used the expression 
irpo^XrfOev ^evv7}fia'^. Gregory Nazianzen calls the 
Father the irpo^oXev^ of the Spirit'. But Irenaeus 
objected to it on account of its use in his day, writing, 
" He who speaks of the mind of God and ascribes to 
it a special origin {frolationem) of its own, makes God 
a compound being, implying that God is one thing and 
original mind anotherV 

The Philonic distinction of the Word as endiathetic 
{ivhi,ddeTo<i), conceived within, and the Word as {trpo- 
<l)opiK6<i) prophoric or uttered, the Word mental and the 
Word active, is also germane to the discussion. In 
II. 12. 5 Irenaeus refers to this distinction. This passage 
implies that the Gnostics held that the Word was 
prophoric. This expression was challenged by Clement 
of Alexandria ^ Athanasius also treats this expression 
as inadequate, a word spoken being insubstantive^ On 
the other hand, the Word endiathetic, as Mr Harvey'^ 
points out, expresses the Platonism of Philo. One 
attribute seems, however, to correct the other, whereas 
used by themselves they involve Sabellianism or 
Arianism. Theophilus describes the Word as both 
endiathetic and prophoric', — compare also the terms 
immanent and transcendent as now used of Deity, one 
term serving to correct the other. The Arians in the 

' De Principiis, IV. 28. 

^ Tryph. 62. ^ Oral. 29. i,. 

* II. 28. 5. See also II. 13. 10, per humanas has passiones transducentes 
eorum sensum, genesim et probolen quinto loco Verbo Dei enarrantes. 
Cf. II. 14. 8, Verbi Dei genesim exponentes, et vitae, adhuc etiam sensus, 
et Dei emissiones obstetricantes. 

* Strom. V. 547. " The Word of the universal Father is not the 
prophoric word, 6 irpoipopiKdi, but the most manifest wisdom and eoodness 
of God." 

« Oraf. II. 35. ' I. 278. 

* Ad Autol. 10. 22. 



ix] The Incarnate Word 143 

first Sirmian Council, however, denied that He was 
either. 

Accordingly, while treating our Lord's original and 
Divine existence with a profound reserve, Irenaeus 
would have acquiesced in Browning's words : 

I say the acknowledgment of God in Christ, 

Accepted by the reason, solves for thee 

All questions in the earth and out of it. 

He was equally unflinching in his position regarding 
the humanity of our Lord. Boldly facing the problem 
connected with the Virgin-birth and the kenosis' of the 
Word, he declared that we are saved by His Incarnation. 
For " had our Lord's flesh not been of the same sub- 
stance as ours, He had not summed up humanity in 
Himself, nor could He be called flesh. But the Father 
would have caused His composition to have been of a 
different substance. But now because it was man who 
had perished, this Word became the Author of our 
salvation, giving through Himself fellowship with 
Himself and the attainment of His salvation^" Cf. 
also V. 14. I : " Had He not been made flesh and blood 
according to the original formation, saving in Himself 
at the end what had been lost in the beginning in 
Adam, He had not recapitulated these things in Him- 
self." Irenaeus allows that there was a difference 
between our humanity and His in this, that whereas we 
are sinners He was without sin ; but this difference, 
he maintains, was not one of substance. " For had 
His flesh been of a different substance from ours, that 
had not been reconciled to God which had been made 

' Ritschl was inclined to despise kenotic theories, he styled them "pure 
mythology " {R. und V. III. 384 — 393). At the same time the mysterious 
self-limitation of Christ is more in accordance with Scripture, e.g. Phil. ii. 7 
and 2 Cor. viii. 9, than are the sweeping assertions and denials of Ritschl. 

2 V. 14. 2. 



144 The Incarnate Word [CH. 

hostile by transgression. But now through that con- 
nection of ours with Himself, the Lord has reconciled 
man to God the Father, reconciling us to Himself by 
the body of His flesh and redeeming us by His own 
blood, as the Apostle said in his letter to the Ephesians, 
' in whom we have redemption through his blood, even 
the forgiveness of sins.' And, indeed, in every letter 
the Apostle declares clearly that we are saved by the 
flesh and blood of our Lord\" These words, which 
recall the passage in Saul — 

'Tis the weakness in strength that I cry for ! my flesh that I seek 
In the Godhead. I seek and I find it. O Saul, it shall be 
A Face like my face that receives thee ; a Man like to me 
Thou shalt love and be loved by for ever; a Hand like this hand 
Shall throw open the gates of new life to thee ! See the Christ stand ! 

are gathered up in the concluding paragraph of the 
chapter in which he distinguishes this Flesh and Blood 
— the Carnalis Adventus, the Incarnation or perfect 
humanity of the Son of God — from the flesh and blood 
or carnal acts which cannot possess the kingdom of 
heaven, and enjoins us to confess that He is God, and 
to believe firmly in His humanity''. Again he writes" : 
" His righteous humanity {justa caro) reconciled that 
humanity which had been in bondage to sin, and 
brought it into friendship with God " ; and " The Lord 
Who redeemed us by His blood, gave His soul for our 
soul and His flesh (adpKa = humanity) for our flesh 
(humanity)*. 

That flesh was assumed in the womb of a Virgin. 
Irenaeus held the Virgin-birth strongly. In III. i6. 2 
he says : " We have already shown from the words 

1 V. 14. 3. 

^ Deum confitens et hominem ejus firmiter excipiens (v. 14. 4). 

' V. 14. 2. ■• V. I. I. 



ixj The Incarnate Word 



145 



of John that John knew one and the same Person was 
the Word of God and also the Only-Begotten, and that 
He became incarnate for our salvation, even Jesus Christ 
our Lord. But Matthew also recognizing that Jesus 
Christ was one and the same Person, setting forth His 
human generation which He had of the Virgin... says : 
' The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the Son 
of David.'... And so the promise made to the Fathers 
was fulfilled, the Son of God being born of a pure 
Virgin." Again he writes : " Emmanuel, Who is 
Virgin-born 1 " ; and in III. 21. 4 he says that "the 
Holy Spirit signified by the words (Isaiah vii. 10 — 17), 
His generation from a Virgin, and His substance as 
God^; for the name Emmanuel signifies this." 

He repeatedly argues against the notion that our 
Lord was the son of Joseph, and points out the care 
St Matthew took to guard against such a conclusion 
in III. 16. 2. In V. I. 3, he says it was the Father 
of all "Who accomplished the Incarnation^"; but in 
III. 17. 4 he ascribes this work more immediately to 
the Holy Spirit, Who " descended according to the 
prearranged dispensation " (olKovofjuiav) ; and in V. 1.3 
he describes the Holy Spirit coming upon Mary ; so 
that we may compare with his expressions the phrase 
in the Proper Preface for Christmas Day — " Who by the 
operation of the Holy Ghost was made man." 

From Mary our Lord took His humanity. " They 
are far astray," he writes, "who say that He took 
nothing from the Virgin, in order that they may get 
rid of His inheritance of the flesh and His likeness to 

^ in. ig. I and iii. 21. 4. 

" Here we have the Platonic distinction of yiveffis and oiffla. Cf. also 
the Homoousion. 

' qui operatus est incamationem ejus. 



146 The Incarnate Word [ch. 

us... For if He had not taken the substance of the flesh 
from man, He neither became man nor the Son of Man, 
and if He was not made what we are, there was nothing 
wonderful in His sufferings. Every one will allow that 
we consist of body, taken from the ground, and soul, 
receiving spirit from God, and such the Word of God 
became, recapitulating His own creation in Himself... 
Otherwise His coming down (Kd6oSo<;) to Mary were 
superfluous. For why did He come down to her if 
He was to take nought from her? and if He took 
nought from Mary, He could not have received earthly 
food by which the earthly body is sustained. He had not 
felt hunger after fasting forty days, John had never said, 
'Jesus sat, being wearied with his journey,' He had 
never wept over Lazarus, or sweated drops of blood ; 
blood and water had never issued from His pierced side. 
For all these things are indications of the flesh which 
is taken from the earth and which He recapitulated in 
Himself, saving His own handiworks" "Even if Jesus," 
he argues in III. 21. 9, " had been the son of Joseph by 
nature, he could not have been the heir of the royal 
line according to Jeremiah ^ for Joseph is represented 
by Matthew as the son of Joacim and Jechoniah, and 
Jechoniah and all his were cast out from the kingdom, 
and God said of his father Joacim, ' he will have none 
to succeed him on the throne of David.' " Irenaeus here 
helps to clear up a difficulty in the text. As Mr W. C. 
Allen' says, we must read* " Josias begat Joachim and 
his brethren, and Joachim begat Jechoniah." The more 
important manuscripts omit Joachim altogether. The 

^ III. 22. 2. ^ xxii. 28 ; xxxvi. 30. 

3 Matthew, Int. Crit. Com., p. 8. 
* Mt. i. II. 



ix] The Incarnate Word 147 

Variorum Bible notices the reading : " Josias begat 
Jakim and Jakim begat Jechonias." 

In contrasting the work of the Second with that 
of the First Adam, he argues that as Adam " the proto- 
plast" received his substance from the virgin soil, so 
the Word, born of Mary, still a virgin, summed up the 
generation of Adam which was saved by Him\ He 
also contrasts the obedience of the Virgin with the 
disobedience of Eve, the one counteracting the effect 
of the other. In a pointed passage he allows the anti- 
thesis to get the better of his doctrine, writing, " As by 
a Virgin our race was bound iadstrictum) to death, so 
by a Virgin it is freed " (solvitur), Virginal disobedience 
being balanced by Virginal obedience". The reading 
solvitur is supported by the parallel passage in III. 22. 4, 
" quod alligavit virgo Eva per incredulitatem hoc virgo 
solvit per fidem." Would he have regarded the Virgin as 
carrying God ©eo^opoi}, rather than ©eoTo/<;o9, bearing 
God.!* See V. 19. i, " ut portaret Deum obediens ejus 
verbo." He used the expression " to carry God " in a 
general sense. See V. 8. i, where he writes: "we 
being gradually accustomed to hold and carry (poriare) 
God." 

The mode of the Incarnation was adapted to man's 
capacity. The Lord did not come to us as He could 
have come, but as we were able to behold Him^. God 

1 III. 21. 10. " protoplastus ille Adam." Cf. protoplasti peccatum 
(V. 19. i). 

^ V. 19. I. salvatur, is saved (Clerm. and Voss), is manifestly wrong, 
completely spoiling the antithesis which is intended. Merc. I. reads 
solvitur, as Massuet points out. Augustine, Contra Julianum I. 3, quotes 
the whole passage and reads salvatur. This was probably the cause of the 
error. See also Augustine's reference to Irenaeus' statement of the sin 
of the protoplast by which we were bound, "quod protoplasti peccato 
fuimus tanquam vinculis alligati" {jibid. 1. 7). 

' IV. 28. 3. 



148 The Incarnate Word [ch. 

could have created man perfect, but man, who was 
recently made, could not receive or retain perfection 
all at once. Accordingly, because of man's infancy, the 
Word of God became an infant like us (a-vvevrj-n-La^ev), 
not for His own sake, being perfect Himself, but on 
account of man. He came in that capacity in which 
man might be able to receive Him^ " He passed 
through the various ages of man, becoming an infant, 
for infants to sanctify infants ; a child among children 
to sanctify such, giving them also an example of the 
effect of piety, righteousness and obedience ; a youth 
among youths to sanctify them for the Lord ; and an 
elder among elders^ that he might be a perfect Master, 
not only in the exposition of the truth, but also in age, 
sanctifying the elders, and becoming an example for 
them also. Lastly he came even to death that he might 
be the iirst begotten from the dead, being the prince 
of life, before all things and preceding all men." Com- 
pare III. 18. 7, " He passed through every age, restoring 
to all communion with God." 

It is the great merit of Ritschl that he emphasized 
the fact that the historical Christ brought the perfect 
revelation of God, so that no further revelation is 
conceivable. R. und V., III. 367. The two grounds 
on which he affirms the divinity of Christ are His 
complete revelation of God's grace and truth, and His 
perfect supremacy over the world (cf. Faith and Fact, 
Edghill, p. 186). 

But Irenaeus was well aware of the difficulties con- 
nected with the relation of the human to the Divine 
in the Son of Man. And he offers a solution in in. 19. 3, 
where he says : " For as He was man in order that He 

1 IV. 38. 2. 2 11. 22. 4. 



ix] The Incarnate Word 



J49 



might be subject to temptation ; so was He Word that 
He might be glorified, the Word remaining quiescent 
{•^a-vxd^ovTots) in His trial, humiliation, crucifixion, and 
death, but being present with {(rvyyivofj.ivov) His 
humanity (toj avOpmirai) in conquest, endurance, bene- 
ficence, resurrection and assumption." 

He insists that the Christ is truly God and truly 
man. See I. 9. 3 : " Learn, ye foolish, that Jesus, Who 
suffered for you. Who tabernacled among you, is the 
very Word of God." The phrase "hypostatic union" 
indeed, occurs in a fragment of an exposition of 2 Kings 
vi. 6 (the floating of the axe-head), where we read : " So 
the Word of God being united with the flesh, by a 
union natural and hypostatic (or essential) (evcoffei rij 
Ka6' vTrotTTaa-iv (pvcriKff), that which was heavy and 
earthy was taken up into heaven by the Divine 
Nature'." 

He also sets himself to answer the great question 
" Cur Deus homo .' " In the first place, he says, the 
Word became flesh to reveal the Father. " The Word 
became the dispenser of the Father's grace for the 
advantage of man, revealing God to man and presenting 
man to God, and at the same time maintaining the 



' Greek Frag. xxvi. Harvey ("by no means genuine," Harnack, 
Hi'si. of Dog. n. 380). iir6<rTa<7LS is used of spiritual substance in I. 5. 4 
and I. II. I ; of the substance of the flesh which had lost the breath of life 
in V. 13. 3, and "our substance" is defined in v. 8. i as "animae et 
carnis adunatio"; in i. 15. 5 with oiala of the matter and substance of 
Deity. In v. I. i inaiTTi,aei iXriffelas (in actual truth) is opposed to So/c^crei 
(appearance). In v. 13. 3 he says the transformation of our body will not 
be ^f iSim iirojTdcreois, due to its own substance or nature, but to the Divine 
working {Kara tt\v toS KvpLov hifryetav). In a Greek Fragment (XIX. Harvey) 
Joshua is a type tov ivuTroffTdrov A&yov, the incarnate or the actual 
(materialized) Word. The word vwdffTaais generally meant the Divine 
substance regarded personally. Athanasius, Orai. in. 65, used it as a 
synonym of oiffia, and in iv. i with oiaia, as subsistence. It does not 
appear to be used of person in Irenaeus. 



150 The Incarnate Word [cH. 

invisibility of the Father lest man should at any time 
become a despiser of God, and in order that he should 
always have an ideal towards which he might advance. 
And again He revealed God (lit. made God visible) to 
man in many ways, lest man, altogether falling away 
from God, should cease to exist, for a living man is the 
glory of God, and the vision of God is the life of man\" 
" The Incarnation of the Saviour," he writes, '' would 
have been superfluous if man already knew the truth''," 
and equally so if the Father and the Son could not be 
known at all (iv. 6. 4). The Son was ever the Light 
of the world, for " all who from the beginning had 
knowledge of God and prophesied the advent of Christ 
received the revelation from the Son Himself" (iv. 7. 2). 
Abraham knowing the Father from the Word confessed 
Him as God (iv. 7. i). "Jesus raised up children to 
Abraham from stones, delivering us from the worship 
of stones and from hard and fruitless thoughts, and 
creating in us a faith like to Abraham's. Accordingly, 
it is one and the same God who called Abraham, and 
gave him the promise. And He is the Maker, Who 
through Christ prepares the luminaries in the world, 
that is, those of the Gentiles who believe. Rightly then 
have we shown that He is known by no one but the 
Son, and to whomsoever the Son shall reveal Him, 
But the Son reveals the Father to all, by Whom He 
wishes to be known. Without the good will of the 
Father and the administration of the Son no one will 
know God " (IV, 7, 2). " It was for this reason that the 
Jews departed from God, through not accepting His 
Word but imagining that they could know the Father 
by Himself, without the Word, that is, without the Son, 



ix] The Incarnate Word *5i 

ignoring Him Who in a human form spoke to Abraham " 
(IV. 7. 4). " His own Word alone knows the Father, 
Who is invisible, illimitable, and ineffable as far as we 
are concerned, and reveals Him to us. The Son reveals 
the knowledge of the Father by His manifestation, for 
the manifestation of the Son is the knowledge of the 
Father, and the Father Who alone knows the Word 
reveals Him. Through the Creation the Word reveals 
God the Creator ; through the world, the Lord Who 
made it ; through the thing formed, the artist Who 
formed it ; and through the Son, the Father Who begat 
the Son... But through the Law and the Pjophets, the 
Word preached alike of Himself and the Father. And 
through the Word Himself made visible and palpable, 
the Father was revealed, although all did not believe 
in Him. But all saw the Father in the Son. For the 
Father is the invisible of the Son and th£ Son is the 
visible of the Father^" " In no other way could we 
have learnt the things of God, had not the Master, 
existing as the Word, been made man. For no one 
else could have made known to us the things of the 
Father but the Father's own Word, Who is the Word 
of Power and very {verus) man"." The whole passage 
deserves consideration. Regarding the Father's revela- 
tion of the Son he writes : " Neither can any one know 
the Son without the goodwill of the Father " (iv. 6. 3). 
" And to this end the Father revealed the Son, that He 
may be manifested through Him to all, and may 
receive those righteous ones who believe in Him into 
incorruption and eternal bliss, for to believe in Him is 
to do His will. The Father has, therefore, revealed 

1 IV. 6. 3—6. ^ V. I. I. 



152 The Incarnate Word [ch. 

Himself to all, by making His Word visible to all, and 
conversely the Word revealed both Father and Son to 
all, since He was seen by all^" 

Incorruption is another gift that followed into 
humanity from the Incarnation. " Life does not come 
from us nor from our nature, but it is given according 
to the grace of God V " As the flesh was made capable 
of corruption, it is also made capable of incorruption, 
and as of death so also of life'." In Old Testament 
times the friendship of God conferred immortality upon 
those who obtained it^ But in New Testament times 
this gift was held to come through the Word. " Had 
not man been joined to God (i.e. by the Incarnate 
Christ) he could have no share in incorruption ' 
(ill. 18. 6). In V. 2. 3 he shows how immortality and 
life are obtained from the Word of God, " Who giveth 
them (i.e. our bodies) resurrection, to the Glor}' of God 
the Father, Who really confers immortality upon the 
mortal, and gives as a free gift incorruption to the 
corruptible, because the power of God is made perfect 
in weakness, lest we should be puffed up, as having 
life of ourselves, and be exalted against God with un- 
grateful minds, but learning from experience that it is 
from His excellency and not from our nature that we 
have eternal duration, should neither miss the glory 
of God nor remain in ignorance of our own nature." 
" The Lord came to give life {^moiroiwv) to the substance 
of the flesh which had lost the breath of life, in order 
that as we all die in Adam, being psychical, we may 
live in Christ, becoming spiritual, not laying down the 
creation of God, but the desires of the flesh, and 

1 IV. 6. 5. ^ II. 34. 3. ' V. 12. 1. 

* Amicitia Dei immortalitatis condonatrix. IV. 13. 4. 



ix] The Incarnate Word J53 

receiving the Holy Spirit'' (v. 12. 3). But the Holy 
Spirit is in this life our earnest of this incorruption. 
He is the Spirit Who giveth life (-Trvevfj^a ^(oottoiovv), the 
Spirit who embraceth man within and without (ireptX.affov 
evBoOep KM e^todev) since He abideth for ever and never 
leaveth him (v. 1 2. 2). " The psychical bodies die when 
they lose the soul, then rising- through the Spirit they 
become spiritual bodies, so that through the Spirit they 
may always have an abiding life " (V. 7. 2). " But now 
we Jiave obtained a certain measure of His Spirit, for 
our perfection and preparation for incorruption, becoming 
gradually accustomed to hold and carry God. This 
the Apostle called an earnest {appa^wv, Vg. pignus), 
that is, a part of that honour which has been promised 
to us by God... So then this earnest dwelling in us now 
makes us spiritual, and the mortal is absorbed in 
immortality, not by the loss of the flesh, but by the 
communion of the Spirit. For they were not without 
flesh, to whom he wrote, but they had received the 
Spirit of God in which we cry, ' Abba Father.' If 
therefore we now cry ' Abba Father ' through the posses - 
sion of the earnest, what will it be when rising from the 
dead we shall see Him face to face, when every member 
shall raise the hymn of exultation to Him Who raised 
them from the dead and gave them eternal life ? For 
if the earnest embracing man in Himself (or, wrapping 
up man in Himself, complectens hominem in semetip- 
sum), now causeth him to say ' Abba Father,' what will 
be the effect of the whole grace of the Spirit, which will 
be given to men by God .' It will make us like Him 
and make man after the linage and likeness of God " 
(v. 8. i). The Spirit is thus the earnest of the immortal 
life which we have through Christ; and it is through 



154 The Incarnate Word [ch. 

embracing that Spirit that man passes into the glory 
of the Father (IV. 20. 4). And God will be seen by 
men who bear (portant) His Spirit (iv. 20. S). 

In III. 19. I he writes : " For it was to this end that 
the Word of God became man, that man having been 
blended 1 with the Word and receiving the adoption, 
might become the son of God. There was no other way 
for man to' attain unto incorruption and immortality. 
But how could we be joined to immortality and in- 
corruption unless immortality and incorruption became 
what we are ; so that the corruptible might be absorbed 
by incorruption and the mortal by immortality, and we 
might receive the adoption of sons ? " Accordingly " the 
Son of God became the Son of Man — that through Him 
we might receive the adoption — the man (i.e. the humanity 
of Christ) bearing and containing and embracing the Son 
of God^" Irenaeus does not represent the Word or 

' " Commixtus " is, as Harvey points out, an inaccurate version of 
Xupi)(ras and bears the taint of Eutychianism. However, Athanasius, 
Orat. IV. 33, speaks of the Word as blended with our nature (/coi voi^ti; 
dvaxpaSels). The reference here seems to be to the fact already alluded 
to, that through the indwelling of the Spirit man becomes accustomed 
capere (=xa}peiv) et portare Deum, v. 8. i. Cf. IV. 20. 4 compUxus homo 
Spiritum Dei in gloriara cedat Patris; v. 1. 3 perfectum hominem 
capientem perfectum Patrem ; III. 20. i ad videndum Deum et capere 
Patrem. See also v. 19. i " Dominum iJa;Wa«^fi (=;8a(rT(ifoi'Tos)conditione 
quae bajulatur ab ipso." 

' III. 16. 3, Filius Dei, Hominis Filius factus.../(»-/a«^e homine et 
capiente et compledente Filium Dei. The reference here is evidently to 
the Incarnation and not to the union of man in general with God. This 
is proved by the Chiasmus : Filius Dei. Hominis Filius.. .homine. ..Filium 
Dei. Chiasmus is a favourite figure with the Latin translator, e.g. : 

quod cogitat hoc et loquitur, et quod loquitur hoc et cogitat. II. 28. 5. 

Apostolos interficientes et persequentes ecclesiam. IV. 28. 3. 

terrenum spiritali et spiritali terrenum. II. 19. 4. 

derideant doctrinam...illorum misereantur. I. 31. 3. 

in came assumptum, consumptam carnem. v. 5. i. 

emendat labem...maculam eraundat. II. 4. 2. 

hominem Spiritui, Spiritum in homine. v. 20. 2. 

quicunque templum Dei violaverit violabit eum Deus. IV. 8. 3. 

Deus bene facit, bene fit homini. iv. 11. i. [These 



ix] The Incarnate Word '155 

Son of God as taking a second Personality, but a second 
Nature to Himself. His manhood had no personality 
of its own ; its existence and completeness depended 
on the Divine Word. In an ideal way the union of 
humanity and divinity in Him is a type of our ultimate 
union with God, the same expression being used of both 
unions, e.g. capere, portare, complecti. 

Irenaeus does not discuss the question whether there 
would have been an Incarnation if man had not sinned. 
But while making the revelation of the Father one great 
reason for the Incarnation, he could hardly be said to 
consider the Incarnation as independent of Adam's 
fall, for he says in one of his epigrammatic sentences, 
" as through the disobedience of one man sin entered 
and death ruled through sin, so righteousness introduced 
through the obedience of one Man may bear the fruit 
of life in those who were once dead'." Cf the statement 
of Athanasius^ : " The Son does not live by the gift 
of life, for He is life, and gives, not receives it." The 
outstanding result of the Incarnation was the new life 
that flowed into humanity through Christ. But another 
result equally emphasized was the redemption from the 
power of sin, which will be treated in the next chapter. 
Another equally prominent result was the restoration 
of the image and likeness of God, described in V. 16. 2^ 
In III. 20. 2, he used the phrase " imitatorem eum 
assignans Deo," which may mean sealing him as a 
follower of God. 

The Incarnation, accordingly, is represented by 

These are but a few of the many examples of this figure. See Ex- 
cursus. See also v. 14. 4 "camalem adventum Filii Dei et Deum con- 
fitens et hominem ejus excipiens." 

' III. 21. 10. ° Orat. m. I. 

' Also ascribed to the universa Spiritus gratia, v. 8. i. 



156 The Incarnate Word [ch. 

Irenaeus as fulfilling two supreme purposes with regard 
to the Father: (i) the revelation of His character and 
love to man, and (2) the realization of His original 
purpose in the creation of the race by the restoration 
of man to His image and likeness in the Son, which 
is incorruption and immortal life and sonship in the 
Father. He concludes the treatise with the words : 
" And he shall be made after the image and likeness 
of God V 

There may be apparent inconsistencies in Irenaeus' 
presentation of his doctrine of Christ^ But in V. 14. 4 
he beseeches his very dear friend to acknowledge the 
advent of the Son of God in the flesh, both confessing 
His Godhead {Deum) and accepting^ His Manhood 
{hominem). He may seem to keep distinct the ofiice 
of the Word as the Revealer of the Father from that 
of the Son of God, the recapitulation of man. But the 
difference lies in the point of view. Christ is regarded 
more " especially as the Word in His relation to the 
Father Whom He reveals, and more particularly as 
the Son in His relation to man, whom He came to 
make a son of God. Again, as the recapitulation of 
the race He is at once the starting-point of its develop- 
ment and the realization of its ideal, Christus origo et 
consummator, while as the Revealer of the Father He 
is the restorer of His image and likeness to man. 

In one passage he describes the Incarnation as a 
revelation of the Paternal Light that illuminates our 

^ " Et fiet secundum imaginem et similitudinem Dei." 

^ Harnack, Hist, of Dogma, Eng. Trans. 11. 262. 

' hominem ejus excipiens v.l., eum for ejus in earlier editions. This 
latter reading would imply expectation of His second advent, excipiens 
representing iKSex^/j.£ms. This would correspond to IV. 20. 6, qui portent 
Spiritum ejus et semper adventum ejus sustinent. 



ix] The Incarnate Word .157 

manhood, writing : " so that the Paternal Light may 
fall upon the flesh of our Lord and be reflected in 
roseate hue from His flesh upon us, and so man may 
enter into incorruption surrounded by the Paternal 
Lights" But there is no tinge of the heresy afterwards 
known as Sabellianism in Irenaeus, for he did not regard 
the Son as merely a manifestation of the Father, much 
less is there any trace of the heresy afterwards known 
as Arianism, although he does quote the passage, 
Prov. viii. 22 — 25^, which the Arians cited in support 
of their theory. 

^ IV. 20. 2. Cf. 0WS kK <PuJt6^. 

' IV. 20. 2. Eusebius, c. Marcellum de E. Th. III. 2, points out that 
i^^ij [kanah] in Prov. viii. 22 is wrongly rendered Iktutc (creavit)by LXX. 
Theodotion translated it by iKTriaaro, Vulg. by possedit. In Gen. iv. i 
it denotes possession by parental generation and appears in the name 
Cain t.^■?. 



CPiAPTER X 

THE INCARNATION AND THE ATONEMENT 

Irenaeus proceeds to show that the human hfe 
of the Incarnate Word, consummated by the crucifixion, 
confers salvation, freedom, and divinity upon man. The 
work of the Atonement is identified more or less with 
the progress and process of His Incarnate Life. Every 
act of that Life is regarded as of saving value, and the 
whole Life as a work of salvation. The knowledge 
of salvation is the knowledge of the Son of God, Who 
is both salvation and Saviour and that which saves'. 
" He is our Saviour, because He is the Son and the 
Word of God. He is saving, since He is Spirit, for it 
is written, ' The Spirit of our countenance is Christ the 
LordV and He is Salvation, inasmuch as He was flesh 
and dwelt among us." 

Regarding the life of Jesus as possessed of saving 
efficacy, Irenaeus, on the one hand, outstripped the 
Apologists who chiefly regarded it as a fulfilment of 
prophecy and a revelation of reason, and, on the other 
hand, took a broader view than more recent theologians, 
who would confine saving grace to the Cross and Passion 
of our Lord. The Crucifixion marked for him the 

^ in. 10. 3. salus et Salvator et salutare. 

^ Thren. iv. 20. Heb. "the breath of our nostrils." LXX. "the 
Spirit of our face." 



CH. x] The Incarnation and the Atonement 159 

consummation of the Incarnation ; but he did not 
restrict the work of the Atonement to the one tran- 
scendent episode in the Incarnate Life. Suffering and 
death were the ordinary lot of man, and therefore they 
were to be recapitulated, or experienced to the full, in 
the life of Him Who summed up all conditions of this 
mortal life in His. For " when He became incarnate 
in man, He summed up in Himself the long roll of 
humanity, supplying us in a concise manner with 
salvation, so that what we lost in Adam, namely, the 
being in the image and likeness of God, we might 
recover in Christ Jesus^" " He passed through every 
age to restore to all that communion with God^" 

The suffering of Christ, however, must enter largely 
into that scheme of redemption in which an obedience 
unto death was manifested that in some mysterious 
way acted as an opposite principle to the disobedience 
of man. " And not only in the way just mentioned did 
the Lord reveal the Father and Himself to mankind, 
but also in His Passion. For by atoning for (dissolvens) 
that disobedience of man, originally shown in the case 
of a tree, He became obedient unto death, even the 
death of the Cross, healing the disobedience which arose 
in connection with one tree by that obedience which 
was displayed upon another'." 

In one passage* he remarked : " Abraham in faith 
and obedience to the word of God offered up his only- 
begotten and beloved son with a ready will and gave 

^ III. 18. I. in compendia nobis salutem J>raestans=<TVVTbix<jis. Cf. 
compendii poculum (in. i6. 6), the cup that recapitulated or crowned his 
work, cf. compendialtter...eyiBqasL...i3ciMm est vinum (in. ii. 3), i.e. by 
a summary process. Cf. Clem. Alex. Str. v. 694, where he speaks of the 
saving power of the Word, ^ iirxis toO Kkyov i) dodeia-a tj/uv o-Ovto/ios oSira 
Kal dwar-^, compendiosa et valida (concentrated and forceful). 

2 III. 18. 7. ' V. 16. 3. " IV. 5. 4. 



i6o The Incarnation and the Atonement [ch. 

him as a sacrifice to God, that God might be pleased 
to present as a sacrifice for our redemption His beloved 
and Only-Begotten Son for all his seed." But, broadly 
speaking, in his analysis of the work of redemption, 
which he was one of the first of the Fathers to attempt, 
he represented the suffering of Christ, not as sacrificial 
or penal, but as real and recapitulative. 

The efficacy of His work depended upon His having 
fulfilled the whole economy of human life', or upon His 
having passed through every age and condition of life^. 
In V. 17. I he does, indeed, speak of Christ as "having 
restored us by His Incarnation to friendship with God, 
on the one hand propitiating for us the Father against 
Whom we had sinned, having mitigated (consolatus) 
our disobedience by His obedience, and, on the other 
hand, giving us communion with and submission to our 
Maker." But there is little trace in Irenaeus of the 
ideas oi propitiatio and satisfactio which his legal training 
helped TertulHan to formulate, and still less, as we shall 
see, of the theory of a ransom paid to the devil. He 
generally describes suffering and death as part and 
parcel of the lot of humanity which the Lord had 
summed up in Himself, in His recapitulation or summing 
up of the human race. Through our organic union with 
Him, His obedience, salvation and incorruptibility are 
ours; just as the sin and loss of Adam became the 
heritage of all mankind which had been represented by 
and summed up in him'. "And recapitulating universal 

^ III. 17. 4. irStrac r^v Kark dvBpaTTOv olKovoidav iKTXripiSxravTos. 

^ II. 12. 4. Omnem aetatem sanctificans per illam quae ad ipsum erat 
similitudinem. 

' Several passages in the treatise bear upon this recapitulatio, e.g. suum 
plasma in semetipsum recapitulans (ill. 22. i) ; and ita recapitulans in se 
Adam ipse Verbum existens, ex Maria quae adhuc virgo, recte accipiebat 
generationem Adae recafiiulationis'" (ill. 21. 10). The last three words 



x] The Incarnation and the Atonement .161 

humanity in Himself from the beginning to the end, 
he also recapitulated their death " (v. 23. 2, cf ill. 21. 10) ; 
" that as through a beaten man our race descended to 
death, through a victorious man we may ascend to life " 
(v. 21. i) ; and " in the second Adam we are reconciled, 
having been made obedient unto death, to Him Whom 
we offended in the first Adam through disobedience " 
(V. 16. 2). 

Sin is to a certain extent kept in the background. 
Death and life are the absorbing themes. " We cannot 
say," remarks Bijhringer^ "that Irenaeus, in making 
Adam's conduct and suffering apply to the whole human 
race, had started from an inward, immediate experience 
of human sinfulness and a feeling of the need of salvation 
founded on this." There is something, too, in the state- 
ment of Dr Harnack'' thatlrenaeus employed the thoughts 
of Paul " without having had the same feeling about 
the flesh and sin as that Apostle." It was St Paul's 
intense sense of his own crime against Christ before his 
conversion, and his rabbinical training, that gave motive 
and form respectively to his doctrine of sin. Augustine, 
in his burning consciousness of his own guilt and of the 
purity of Christ, and in his speculative transcendentalism, 
is the follower of St Paul. But Irenaeus is of the 
school of St John. He did not approach the subject 
from the same standpoint, or with the same depth of 
feeling and passionate intensity as Augustine, because 
he had not passed through the same terrible experience. 
Sin, however, is treated in a rational and religious 

present a difficulty. Do they mean "the generation of Adam which He 
(the Word) recapitulated" or "the generation which was recapitulated in 
Adam " ? The latter seems more suitable to the context, which sets forth 
the contrast between Adam and Christ. 

1 Die Kirche Christi, p. 484. 

' Hist, of Dogma, 11. 274 (Eng. Trans.). 

H. I. " 



1 62 The Incarnation and the Atonement [ch. 

manner by him. To resist God and to prove ungrateful 
to Him is to injure His handiwork and to lose one's 
life, " simul et artem ejus et vitam amisisti " (iv. 39. 2). 
He quotes with approval the words of an elder who 
said that " we ought not to censure the men of old 
time, but should ourselves fear lest by chance doing 
anything displeasing to God, after coming to the know- 
ledge of Christ, post agnitionem Ckristi, we have no 
longer remission of sins " (iv. 27. 2). 

Sin in this system is, accordingly, a thing to be 
reckoned with, being in all men by reason of their 
organic union with Adam. Sin is an unnatural thing 
that must be annihilated, and a disease that must be 
healed, while, at the same time, it serves a disciplinary 
purpose. For "how could man have the discipline of 
what is good unless he knew the opposite^ ? " He does 
not regard sin from a religiously emotional but rather 
from an intellectually moral point of view. " To obey 
God, to believe in Him and to guard His precept," he 
calmly wrote, " is good, this is the life of man. But 
not to obey Him is evil, and this is his death. Therefore, 
by the kindness of God man knows the good of obedience 
and the evil of disobedience^" 

In V. 17. I sin is described as a debt to God, Whose 
debtors we are''- " Disobedience to God brought death 
upon man. Therefore, from the time they were handed 
over to it, they were made debtors of death*." But 
death is emptied of its sting by Christ Who gave man 

1 IV. 39. I. 

^ hie est Pater noster cujus eramus debitores transgress! ejus praeceptum. 
Cf. V. 16. 5, neque enim alter! cuidam eramus debitores, cujus et praecep- 
tum transgressi fueramus ab initio. 

^ V. 23. I debitores mortis effecti...facti sunt debitores mortis 
(v. 23. 2). Irenaeus does not regard man as a debtor to the devil but to 
death and to God (see above). 



x] The Incarnation and the Atonement ' 163 

life, " for the salvation of man is the destruction of 
death'" (illius enim salus evacuatio est mortis). This 
is after i Cor. xv. 6, Irenaeus reading evacuatur mors 
(Vg. destruetur), which means that death is emptied of 
its power and robbed of its possession. In a previous 
chapter (lll. 23. i) he had explained this "evacuation" 
of death : evacuavit mortem vivificans eum hominem 
qui fuerat mortificatus. In similar terms he describes 
our Lord's conquest of the devil, as debtors to whom 
he does not regard us. For he writes : " per hominem 
recurrentem ad Deum ^z^«£'«^^«rapostasiaejus"(v. 24. 3). 
Our debt to death was paid by Him Who recapitulated 
the death of man in Himself (v. 23. 2). " The Lord 
Himself having become the First-Begotten of the dead, 
received into His bosom the ancient fathers, and 
regenerated them into the life of God, He Himself be- 
coming the beginning of the living (initium viventium)''." 
" On the day in which Adam died for disobedience to 
God, recapitulating this day in Himself, the Lord en- 
dured death in obedience to the Father^" " He Who 
died for man was made in the likeness of the flesh of 
sin that He might condemn sin, and cast it, as a thing 
already condemned, out of the flesh, but might incite 
man to attain to His likeness*." 

These passages emphasize the reality of sin and its 
condemnation and conquest in the Passion of our Lord, 
but Irenaeus was more concerned to show that the 
sufferings of Jesus were real, not imaginary, as the 
Gnostics held. " Otherwise," he remarks', " there were 
no Passion, and we have been deceived by Him Who 
exhorts us to endure what He did not endure Himself 

1 in. 23. 7. ^ HI. 22. 4. " V. 23. I. 

■■ in. 20. 2. ' in. 18. 6. 



164 The Incarnation and the Atonement [CH. 

We, too, shall be superior to the Master by suffering and 
bearing what He never suffered nor bore. But as our 
Lord alone is truly Master, the Son of God is truly good 
and capable of suffering, even the Word of God the 
Father, Who was made the Son of man. For He 
agonized and conquered. As a man He was contending 
on behalf of the fathers, and through His obedience He 
discharged 1 the debt of disobedience ; for He bound the 
strong man, set free the weak, and gave salvation to 
His own creation by destroying sin. For He is a most 
holy and merciful Lord, and one Who loveth the race 
of men. Therefore, as we have said, He caused human 
nature to cling to God and to be one with God. For 
had not man vanquished the enemy of man, that enemy 
had not been justly^ vanquished ; and had not God 
given salvation, we had never possessed it securely ; and 
had not man been joined to God, he could never have 
shared in incorruptibility." He continues : " They who 
do not believe in a real incarnation, are still under the 
old condemnation, and are patrons' of sin, not believing 
in the conquest of death. But when the law, given by 
Moses, came and testified concerning sin, that there is 
a sinner, it took his kingdom from him, revealed him 
as a robber and murderer and not a king, but laid a 
burden upon man who had sin in himself, showing him 
to be worthy of death. But as the law is spiritual, it 
only caused the sin to be apparent, but did not remove 
it. For sin had no power over the Spirit, but only over 
the man. It therefore behoved Him Who assayed to 
slay sin and to redeem man, who was guilty of death, 

^ persolvens, see below. iuCKimv (Harvey). 

^ SiKalws, see below. 

* advocationera praebentes. 



x] T}ie Incarnation and the Atonefnent * 165 

to become that very thing which he was, that is, man ; 
who had been drawn into bondage by sin, and was held 
fast by death, so that sin should be destroyed by man 
and man should go forth from death V In this eloquent 
passage Christ is described as victorious through suffer- 
ings, as having achieved man's release from the bondage 
of sin, which is treated in a truly realistic way, by His 
obedience as very man, and as having destroyed sin and 
death in His own Incarnate life. 

In an interesting chapter of the Third Book he 
somewhat palliates the disobedience of Adam, and 
allows that there were extenuating circumstances and 
that God took pity on him and saved him^. They are 
not trustworthy, according to him, who, like Tatian, 
" the first to invent this foolish idea," deny the salvation 
of Adam, quoting the text " In Adam all die," but 
ignoring that "where sin abounded grace did much 
more abound." " Such make themselves patrons of the 
serpent and of death'." He argues that it would have 
betokened the superiority of evil if God had abandoned 
man to death, whereas He showed His invincible power 
and merciful nature in the reproof of (one) tnan* and the 
probation of all men, who, like the vessels (vasa) of the 
strong man, were seized by the stronger, Adam being 
the first vessel in the possession of the former^ 

He .seems to regard man's experience in the garden 
of innocence as an awakening of his conscience, and the 
knowledge of evil as necessary to the education and 

1 Cf. V. 1. 2 sq. 

^ III. 1}. I, owing to the deceit of the devil (praevaricationem inique 
inferens ei et per occasionem { = Trpo^i(rei, on the plea of) immortalitatis 
mortificationem faciens in eum). 

^ III. 23. 8, advocatos = 7rpo<rTdTas. 

4 ad correptionem (v.l. correctionem) hominis ei prohationem omnium. 

° HI. 23. I. See Mt. xii. 29 <rKe<n), Lk. xi. 22 cricOXa, spolia. 



1 66 The Incarnation and the Atonement [cH. 

training of man. " For how could man have received 
discipline in what is good, if he had no knowledge of 
the contrary ? " But the Divine intention was, that 
" man learning by experience that it is an evil thing 
which robs him of life, that is, disobedience to God, 
may never attempt it at all, but knowing that what 
preserves his life, that is, obedience, is good, may 
diligently maintain it\" " The discipline," he proceeds 
to say, "consists in the knowledge of both good and 
evil, and its object is that man may choose the better." 
So the original destiny of man was in no wise hindered 
by the Fall. The fact was that the Fall became the 
means of leading men to attain the perfection for which 
they were destined. " Such," he remarks, " was the 
magnanimity of God that man, passing through every 
experience and obtaining the knowledge of morality 
(or moral discipline), and then coming to the resurrection 
from the dead, and learning by experience from whence 
he obtained deliverance, should ever be grateful to God, 
from Whom he received the gift of incorruption, and so 
might love Him more^" 

Sin is treated as a disease in the same passage. " As 
the skill of the physician," he writes, " is proved by his 
patient, God is manifested in the case of man." From this 
point of view the work of Christ is a healing, being the 
removal of the corruption which disobedience entailed 
upon our nature, and which ends in death. In V. 17. i 
His obedience is a mitigation (consolatus est) of our 
disobedience ; and in V. 16. 3, a healing (sanans) of it. 
It was as Creator that our Lord had this healing power 
over the constitution of man, which had been impaired 
by the inroad of evil. " And He restored man sound 

' IV. 39. 1. 2 II,. 20. 2. 



x] The Incarnation and the Atonement ,167 

and whole, preparing him to be perfect for Himself and 
the resurrection" (v. 12. 6). In this passage he treats 
the healing of the limbs as not only a type but also 
as an earnest of their salvation, saying, " Wherefore did 
He cure the members of the body and restore them 
to their former condition if they were not to be saved ? 
As the fatal principle was the disobedience of one man, 
the healing principle was the righteousness introduced 
by the obedience of Christ into humanity, which was 
productive of life" (yitam fructificat) {lU. 21. 10). In 
V. 17. I he again traces the connection between sin 
and disease. " His Word rightly said to the man (the 
paralytic): 'Thy sins be forgiven thee'. ..for paralysis is 
a result of sin. By remitting sins. He, indeed, healed 
men and manifested His own personality." But sin is 
not to be allowed to remain for ever in the nature 
of man, it must be eradicated ere the race can be 
reformed ; ere the man can be remade in the likeness 
of God, and can become an imitator of God, and accept 
the paternal rule for seeing God and receiving the 
Father. Therefore " He Who died for man, was made 
in the likeness of sinful flesh, that He might condemn 
sin, and cast it as a guilty thing out of the flesh\" 
A strong expression " that He might slay sin " is found 
in III. 18. 7. 

' The restoration of man's fallen nature was, then, one 
great purpose of the Incarnation. But it would seem 
that the phrase in the Preface of Book v., " The Word 
of God became what we are that He might make us 
what He is," factus est quod sumus nos, uti nos per- 
ficeret esse quod et ipse, unless rhetorical, implies 
something more than restoration, and is to be paralleled 
' in. 20. 2. 



1 68 The Incarnation and the Atonement [ch. 

by the passage in Athanasius — " He was not man, and 
then became God, but He was God and then became 
man, and that to make us gods'," and "We men are 
made gods by the Word, as being joined to Him 
through His flesh V' etc. Cf. iv. 38. 4 " We blame 
Him because He did not make us gods from the first, 
but first men and then gods" (primo homines tunc 
demum dii). These passages are startling to our moral 
sense and use owing perhaps to the very vivid sense 
of the sonship of God possessed by the early Christians. 
But what they really mean is that the Word of God 
revealed the divinity of man, which He made possible 
by His Incarnation. 

In the fifth book of the Treatise, he develops his 
theory of the Redemption, pointing put that the 
redemption of man from the kingdom of evil, that con- 
centration of error and malignity which is called the 
Apostasia^, is the preliminary process in the restoration 
of man. There is no trace, however, of Origen's idea 
that a ransom was paid by way of compensation to the 
.Evil One by the Saviour — an error in which Gregory 
of Nyssa arid Gregory the Great were drawn by the 
speculations of Origen. For he did not regard the Evil 
One as having a claim over the human race, or the 
Atonement as being a transaction between God and 
the Evil One. The debt which was owed, but which 
Christ did not owe, was to the eternal law of holiness. 
And, therefore, our redemption was effected by per- 

1 Orat. I. 39. ^/iSs Seo7ron)(rjj.,.5ia rov Kbyav MloirovifiitaaM koX 
i0eoTon/i$riffa.v. 

^ Orat. III. 34. OeoiroLoOfj^da irpoffXrjtpBivTes 5tA -njs trapKbs a»)ToO. 
Cf. also TertuUian adv. Prax. 13 "si homines per fidem filios Dei factos 
deos scriptura pronuntiare non timuit " ; also Hippolytus Ph. X. 7^70x05 
7cl/3 ^e6s...^eoxoi7;5fs dOdvaros yevvijOds. 

' Cf. initium et materiam apostasiae suae habens hominem (in. 23. 8). 



x] The Incarnation and the Atonement 0169 

suasion {secundum suadelam), not by force {cum vi), the 
captives of sin being drawn out of its sphere and power 
by the spiritual attraction of the Christ, the Incarnate 
Word. 

The principal passages on the Apostasia and the 
Redemption are V. i. i and V. 21. 3. The suadela or 
moral influence by which man is drawn out of the 
tyranny of the Apostasia, the kingdom of evil, consists 
in the example of perfect obedience to the moral govern- 
ment of the Father in the Son, Who recapitulated 
humanity in Himself, and the illustration of the Father's 
love and mercy in the Word, Who revealed God in 
Himself The key of this theory of redemption is 
the passage V. i. i : " The Lord redeemed us with His 
own blood, and gave His soul for our soul, and His 
flesh for our flesh, and poured out the Spirit of the 
Father upon the union and communion of God and 
man, bringing God down to man and lifting man up 
to God by His Incarnation, and bestowing upon us 
immortality in a real and enduring sense at His 
Advent '." 

There was a battle with evil and it was fairly con- 
tested. " For had not man conquered the antagonist 
of man, the enemy had not been justly (StKaieo?) van- 
quished" (III. 18. 6). Cf V. 21. 3 "He is justly led 
captive who took man captive unjustly^ Very favourably 
do these statements compare with the statements to 
be found in many of the Church writers on this subject. 
Origen^ asks : " To whom did He give His soul a 
ransom ? It could not be to God ; was it not therefore 
to the devil ? For the devil held sway over us until 

1 V. I. 1. 

' Comm. on Mt. (vol. i6, t. 8). 



170 The Incarnation and the Atonement [ch. 

there should be given to him the ransom on our behalf, 
namely the soul of Jesus — to him, I say, who was 
deceived into supposing that he could hold sway over 
it." Gregory of Nyssa^ says, " The devil deceived in 
order to destroy. But He who is righteous and good 
employed the device of deceit {ry iinvoia t^<} aTrar?;?), 
benefiting not only that which was destroyed but also 
the destroyerV Augustine seems to have had this 
view before him, although he did not identify himself 
with it, when he wrote', " the unjust one dealt against 
us, as it were, by just right (aequo jure), but our Lord, 
having been slain in His innocence, conquered him by 
a most just right " (jure aequissimo). He also says in 
the same treatise^ that "the devil was conquered by 
the righteousness of Jesus Christ, because, although he 
found nothing worthy of death in him, he nevertheless 
slew him. Hence it was just that the debtors whom 
the devil was holding should be released, by believing 
in Him Whom the devil slew without any debt. The 
devil was conquered by Christ by justice (justitia), not 
by power." This is the very same thought as that of 
Irenaeus, " had not man conquered the antagonist of 
man, the enemy had not been justly vanquished " {ovk 
av SiKaia)<; eviKrjdTj 6 ix^pc":, III. 18. 6), and, "the Word 
of God powerful in all things and constant in His justice 
dealt justly even with the apostasy, redeeming His own 

' Orai. ad Catech. 26. This theory that the devil was deceived was 
carried to extreme lengths by those who described our Lord's humanity 
as a bait that concealed the " hook " of His divinity to catch the devil 
(Gregory the Great, Moralia in Job, III. 569); or the cross as a "mouse- 
trap" baited by our Lord's blood (Peter Lombard, Sent. ill. 19. i). It 
was also described as an "emetic." 

^ Both Origen and Gregory believed in the ultimate salvation of the 
Devil. 

^ De Trinitate IV. 13. 

* Ibid. XIII. 15. 



x] The Incarnation and 'the Atonement 171 

therefrom, not by violence {non cum vi) whereby the 
Apostasy had originally gained its mastery over us, 
greedily grasping at what was not its own, but by moral 
force (sect secundum suadelam), as it became God to 
recover by persuasion rather than by violence what He 
sought" (v. I. i). Augustine also remarked that Christ 
observed this Divine propriety, and the Divine order, in 
which justice takes precedence of power, by postponing 
the exercise of His power until He had done what He 
ought'. We may compare with Irenaeus' allusion to 
the grasping nature of the devil, ea quae non erant sua 
insatiabiliter rapiens, the opinion of Augustine that the 
devil lost his rights over mankind by overstepping them. 
See also Leo's remark, per injustitiam. plus petendi totius 
debiti summa vacuatur^. Irenaeus did not, however, 
hold the opinion that a ransom was paid to the devil 
by Christ, which was so scathingly condemned by 
Gregory Nazianzen' in the words, ^ev Tfj<; v^pewi, 
"shame on the insult!" He does, indeed, say that "our 
Lord recovered His own juste et benigne, juste with 
reference to the apostasy from which He redeemed us 
by His own blood, benigne* with reference to ourselves 
who were redeemed " (v. 2. i). He also said, " the Lord 
redeeming us with His own blood, giving His soul for 
our soul, and His flesh for our flesh" (v. i. i). 

Although we have here the seeds of thought which 
might plausibly be developed into a systematic doctrine 
of compensation, like Origen's, Irenaeus had no idea of 
compensation at all. He regarded man as having fallen, 
through his own disobedience and of his own free will, 

1 postposuit quod potuit nt prius ageret quod oportuit (De Triniiate 
XIII. 14). 

2 Leo the Great 390 — 461, Serm. xxil. c. 4. 

3 Orat. 45. * Cf. secundum suadelam. 



172 The Incarnation and the Atonement [ch. 

albeit deceived, under the thraldom and tyranny of the 
devil, which he called " the apostasy,'' and from that 
apostasy he could be delivered, not by any violent 
procedure against either devil or man, not by any com- 
pensation or inducement' offered to the devil, but by 
persuading men of their free will to abandon the devil 
and sin. The human race did not belong originally to 
the devil : it had been seized by him, who held his 
possessions by force. It would not, however, be in 
keeping with the Divine character of justice and kindness 
to descend to the same level as the devil, and recover 
His own by force. The power of the devil over humanity 
had to be broken by man if the victory was to be a 
moral one ; if man was to be induced of his own free 
will to abandon the devil and to allow himself to be 
fashioned anew in the image and likeness of God. That 
power was crushed by the obedience of Him Who " re- 
capitulated in Himself the ancient enmity against the 
serpent and destroyed our adversary by means of the 
words of the Law, and the precept of the Father which 
He used for the destruction and exposure {traductionem^) 
of the apostate angel." The result of this victory was 
that Satan was conquered, proved to be an apostate, 
and bound in the same bonds by which he had bound 
man ; while his power was overthrown and he himself 
made subject to man, not by any payment or com- 
pensation but by man's return to God, per hominem 

^ Oxenham, Catholic Doct. of Atonement^ p. 132, explains secundum 
suadelam as "by a method which convinced Satan his rights were at an 
end." Neander, Church Hist. II. 383, so understands it. But Dorner, 
Person of Christ I. 479, rightly regards it as "by persuading men." Other- 
wise we lose the contrast of the devil's treatment of man (cum vi) and 
God's secundum suadelam which corresponds to benigne in v. 1. i, quantum 
autem ad nos, qui redempti sumus, benigne ; and secundum misericordiam 
Dei Patris (v. 21. 3). 

* V. 21. 2. See whole chapter. 



x] The Incarnation and the Atonement ^72> 

recurrentem ad Deum. On the other hand, man was 
freed, " for the binding of Satan was his emancipation," 
and he was renewed in the image and likeness of God^ 
The victory was, accordingly, both moral, spiritual, and 
complete. It was gained by One Who recapitulated 
universal humanity in Himself, and, therefore, its fruits 
are for universal humanity. That recapitulation meant 
the death of sin, the annihilation of death and the 
vivification of man (ut occideret quidem peccatum, 
evacuaret autem mortem et vivificaret hominem, 
III. 1 8. 7)1 

It cannot, therefore, be said that Irenaeus put forward 
a doctrine of " compensation " similar to that of Origen. 
But it is not equally clear that he did not hold a position 
somewhat approaching that of Anselm' on " satisfaction.'' 
He does not, indeed, allude to any antagonism between 
the Father and the Son expressed in or removed by 
the Atonement. He does not, indeed, insist on either 
compensation or satisfaction in the usually applied sense. 
The spiritual union of the Father and the Son was for 
him the living basis of the Atonement, on which its 
possibility and practicability rested. By the Son's 
obedience the law of holiness was fulfilled. It was to 
the law that compensation was given and satisfaction 
made. As Athanasius well phrased it : " it was due 
to God's constancy that His law of holiness should be 
maintained ^" But the obedience of Christ is described 
not only as a healing of our disobedience (see above), 

^ destruens adversarium nostrum et perficiens hominem secundum 
imaginem et similitudinem Dei, v. i\. i. 

* Cf. III. i8. 7 qui inciperet occidere peccatum et mortis reum redimere 
hominem. ..ut peccatum ab homine interficeretur et homo exiret a morte. 

' Cur Deus Homo, I. 13. necesse est ergo, ut aut ablatus honor solvatur 
aut poena sequatur. 

* De Incam. 7. 



174 The Incarnation and the Atonement [cH. 

but also in terms which may suggest and did most 
probably suggest the discharge of a debt which was 
owed to God. In III. i8. 6 " per obedientiam inobedien- 
tiam fersolvens," and in V. i6. 3 " dissolvens earn 
inobedientiam " and " exsolvere inobedientiam," are 
expressions which, while capable of the rendering 
" dissolve " or " loose the knot of," might easily imply 
the payment of a debt in full to God, " for to no one 
else are we debtors but to Him Whose law we broke 
from the beginning" (v. 17. i), i.e. the debt of honour, 
reverence and obedience which had to be paid. This 
would be the very principle laid down by Anselm (l. 13), 
" necesse est ergo ut ablatus honor solvatur " ; which 
might be rendered, having regard to the feudalism of 
his age, " homage must be paid." 

The relation of our Lord's obedience to our dis- 
obedience is expressed in a pregnant phrase in V. 19. i, 
" recapitulationem ejus quae in ligno fuit inobedientiae, 
per eam quae in ligno est obedientiam, facientem," which 
implies that our disobedience was swallowed up and 
neutralized in Him, Who identified Himself with our 
case, by His own obedience. In another passage 
(v. 17. i) the effect of His obedience upon our dis- 
obedience is expressed by the word consolatus, which 
implies mitigation or alleviation. It is the effect of 
His obedience not upon God in averting His wrath 
but upon our disobedience that is the chief concern of 
Irenaeus. And yet he says, " In this way the Father 
against whom we had sinned was propitiated " (v. 17. i). 
That this propitiation did not involve the penalty or 
sacrifice of death, in the ordinary acceptation of the 
term, is shown by the passage in the conclusion of his 
exposition of the Temptation, " vanquishing him then the 



x] The Incarnation and the Atonement ^75 

third time He repulsed him," " et soluta est ea quae fuerat 
in Adam praecepti Dei praevaricatio^ per praeceptum 
legis quod servavit Filius hominis, non transgrediens 
praeceptum Dei," that is, the disobedience of Adam was 
done away'' by the obedience of Christ in the Temptation 
(v. 21. 2). That obedience was consummated on the 
cross, that " as we were made debtors to God by one 
tree, we may receive remission of our debt by another " 
(v. 17. 3). That spirit of obedience, that would prefer 
death to disobedience, was made ours, for " in the 
second Adam we have been reconciled, having been 
made obedient unto death " (v. 16. 2). 

One fundamental difference between Irenaeus and 
Ansel m is seen in the manner in which the Death of 
Christ is treated in their respective systems. As we 
have seen, the former regarded that Death as the con- 
summation of His obedience to God, which, as displayed 
in the Temptation, had already atoned for the sin of 
Adam, the crowning act in His recapitulation of our 

' Praervaricatio implies dishonesty and trickery and is very descriptive 
of Adam's conduct in the whole transaction. Praevaricatio is defined by 
Ulpian : " p. est ejus quifalsas rei excusationes admittit," that is, collusion. 
It has been suggested that the passage means, " the injury done to the lavif 
by Adam was set right by the obedience of Christ " (see Oxenham, op. cit. 
P- I33)' 'f' ^'^ t^'^ sense in III. 23. i "Adam, quem (serpens) tenebat, 
praevaricationem inique inferens ei, et per occasionem immortalitatis 
mortificationem faciens in eum," where p. implies that the devil pretended 
to be acting for man, while betraying him. Cf. IV. 27. 1 plebis prae- 
varicationes = transgressions. 

^ soluta est. This is a remarkable statement. Solvere does not neces- 
sarily mean " pay for " (Oxenham) here. Cf. solvit errorem of the Passion of 
Christ (11. 20. 2), and seductione ilia soluta (v. 19. i). The idea is that 
of loosing a knot. Cf. III. 22. 4 "Quod alligavit Eva... Maria solvit." In 
the light of this and a similar passage, v. 19. i, and Justin Martyr's words 
(Dial. p. 327), " that through the way the disobedience had its beginning, 
through the same it might have an end (KmSkvaai)" one might render 
solvere as "quash" or "reverse." But Irenaeus also used a metaphor 
which, though probably intended to express "reversal," might suggest 
" satisfaction," viz. " aequa lance disposita virginalis inobedientia per 
virginalem obedientiam " (v. 19. i). 



176 The Incarnation and the Atonement [ch. 

humanity, whereas Anselm separated that Death from 
the Life that preceded it. In Cur Deus Homo, II. 11, 
he says, " He, as every rational creature, owed obedience 
to God, but He did not owe His death, having never 
sinned. Therefore He gives His death freely and not 
as a debt." On the other hand, Irenaeus did not look 
upon that death as " a payment to God exceeding the 
debt" (Anselm II. 20), giving God "a complete satis- 
faction" and enabling Him "to proceed with His work 
for humanity '' {ibid. II. 4), but as the destruction, the 
evacuation of death, the deliverance of man from its 
terror, and the payment of the debt of death for the 
race which discharged its debt in Him. Anselm did 
not, as Irenaeus, see man in Christ and Christ in man. 
Christ's union with our race in Irenaeus is mystical and 
eternal, being based on the recapitulation of humanity 
by the Word of God ; in Anselm it is accidental and 
external. Another great difference lies in the relation 
in which the Father and the Son are represented as 
standing to One Another in regard to the redemption 
of mankind. This relation in Anselm is represented as 
forensic, mechanical, and external. But in Irenaeus the 
manner in which the Father and the Son cooperate in 
the Atonement, reveals a spiritual intimacy and a 
mystical union between these Divine Persons. 

According to Irenaeus mercy was the motive of the 
Atonement, a Father's pity for those who had abandoned 
His ways. " And man, who had been before a captive, 
is drawn out from the power of his master according 
to the mercy of God the Father^, Who had compassion 
on His creatures and gave them salvation and renewed 

' secundum misericordiam Dei Patris. Cf. 11. 20. 2 haec ergo fuit 
magnanimitas Dei. 



x] The Incarnation and the Atonement 177 

them through the Word, that is, through Christ, so that 
man may learn by experience that he has not incorruption 
as his own possession but that it is the gift of God'." 
" Man who was disobedient to God and was cast down 
from immortahty, then obtained mercy through the 
Son of God receiving the adoption which is through 
Him"." Athanasius has a corresponding phrase, " ac- 
cording to the loving-kindness and goodness of His 
own Father, on account of our salvation''." While there 
is nothing in Irenaeus to show that he contemplated 
the views of equivalent punishment and imputed 
righteousness that were afterwards formulated by Calvin, 
there is some indication of the doctrine of vicarious 
suffering in the passage, " He Who suffered and shed 
His blood for us is Christ the Son of God, Who by 
His passion reconciled us to God*!' " The fruit of that 
Passion was fortitude and virtue " (istius passio fructi' 
ficavit fortitudinem et virtutem). " By His Passion our 
Lord destroyed death, abolished error, banished cor- 
ruption, and removed ignorance, but manifested life, 
displayed the truth and conferred immortality^" Pay- 
ment of a penalty is not connected with that Passion by 
Irenaeus. 

' donatione Dei accipit incorruptelam, v. 21. 3. Cf. ftaiii' xapiodinvos 
iipBapaiav Suifrr)!ri)Tai., I. ip. i, giving life as an act of grace bestows incor- 
ruption as a gift (of the Spirit). Salvation is not of fate or of necessity but 
of grace. 

^ A comment of Rom. xi. 32. 

^ Kara (f>i\avdpwirlay koI dyad^rira tov eavToO Harpbs 5ta rijv ijfiQv 
awTttplav (De Incar, I.). 

* III. 16. 9. 

" n. ■20. 2. A difficult expression occurs here "noster Christus passus 
est passionem validam et quae non ^iJSf^' " (Ar., Voss., Massuet ; accederet 
for accideret, Clerm., Harvey). The latter compares Greek oiiTuxoi'^no 
ordinary passion. The meaning required by context is "a passion that 
would not lead to His own corruption." This would be expressed by 
cui non cederet, "to which he would not yield." Could it possilily mean 
"which might have no increase" (accessio = attack of sickness)? 

H. I. 12 



178 The Incarnation and the Atonement [ch. 

Furthermore, that aspect of the Atonement known 
as Reconciliation is presented in no narrow or forensic 
sense. It is a reconciliation accomplished not only for 
us but also in us, a reconciliation between man and God. 
" For the Word of God dwelt in man and became the 
Son of Man that He might accustom man to receive 
God, and accustom God to dwell in man, according to 
His Father's pleasured" This reconciliation is based 
upon the reality of the Saviour's humanity — His Incar- 
nation. " Should anyone say," he remarks, " that the 
flesh of our Lord differed in this respect from us that it 
was sinless, and we are sinners, he speaks the truth. 
But if he imputes a different kind of flesh to our Lord, 
the doctrine of reconciliation will not square with his 
theory. For that is reconciled which was previously 
hostile. Had our Lord taken flesh of a different sub- 
stance, that which had been estranged through trans- 
gression has not been reconciled to God. But now by 
our organic relation with Him", the Lord reconciled 
man to God the Father, reconciling us to Himself 
through the body of His own flesh, and redeeming us by 
His blood." Again he writes in III. 16. 9: "By His 
Passion one and the same Christ Jesus, the Son of God, 
reconciled us to God," in order to impress upon his 
readers the fact that Jesus was really human as well as 
Divine, both Christ and Word, Who summing up human 
nature in His own Person saved it, and reconciling man 
to God in His own Person made the Atonement. " For 
had He been incarnate for another purpose, and of 
a different substance, He had not gathered up humanity 
in Himself and could not be said to be flesh. But now 

' in. 20. 2. 

'^ V. 14. 3. per earn quae est ad se communicationem. 



x] The Incarnation and the Atonement 179 

because He became that which perished, namely, man, 
this Word has been able to confer salvation, bringing 
about by His own self communion with Him and making 
an effectual demand for his (man's) salvation^ It was 
His righteous flesh that reconciled that flesh which was 
detained in sin, and brought it into friendship with 
God." 

It is because of this organic union with or recapitula- 
tion of humanity, that Irenaeus seems to include a 
bloody death in the economy of the Incarnation. In 
V. 14. I he writes: "When our Lord said: 'All the 
righteous blood which is shed upon the earth, from the 
blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zacharias...will 
be required,' he implied that there would be a recapitu- 
lation of all the shedding of the blood of righteous men 
and prophets in Himself, and that this requisition of 
blood would be made by Himself. For this blood would 
not be required unless it could be saved, nor could the 
Lord have recapitulated these things in Himself, unless 
He had been made flesh and blood according to the 
original formation, saving in Himself that which had 
been lost at the beginning in Adam." But, generally 
speaking, he signifies by the blood of Christ the reality 
of His Manhood. He returns to this thought in a 
following section, v. 14. 3, where he writes : " Remember- 
ing then, dearly beloved, that you have been redeemed 
by the flesh of our Lord and restored by His blood, and 
' holding the head from which the whole body of the 
Church welded together increaseth,' that is, the Incarna- 
tion of the Son of God^, and confessing His Deity and 

' V. 14. 2. per earn quae esset ad eum coramunionem, et exquisitionem 
salutis ejus efSciens. This is to be explained by Lk. xi. 50, exquiretur 
omnis sanguis Justus qui effunditur, etc., which is quoted just before. 

2 camalem adventum Filii Dei. 

12 — 2 



l8o The Incarnation and the Atonement [ch. 

believing in His Manhood, you will easily confute the 
later opinions of the heretics by these Scripture proofs." 

The flesh and blood, or the Incarnation of the Son 
of God, is thus the means of communion between God 
and man, and restores the ideal relations that should 
exist between the Maker and the man'. And thus God 
was revealed to man and man was presented to God ; 
and the harmony of creation was restored. " For it 
behoved the Mediator between man and God, by reason 
of His relationship with both, to lead both into friendship 
and concord, to present man to God and to make known 
God to man"." " He needs nothing from us, but we 
need communion with Him, and, therefore, He shed 
Himself graciously upon us that He might gather us 
into the bosom of the Father" (v. 2. i). 

In this new union with Christ, real and spiritual, and 
specialized in the Eucharist, our blood is nourished by 
His blood and our body by His body', and, by the union 
of God and man, man is made partaker of the incorrup- 
tibility of God*. And His obedience is ours. For in 
Christ, the second Adam, we are reconciled, being made 
obedient unto death'. This obedience, as we have 
already seen, was an important factor in the reconcilia- 
tion. " The Lord," he says, " restored us to friendship 
through His Incarnation, becoming the Mediator between 
God and man, propitiating for us the Father against 
Whom we had sinned, mitigating our disobedience by 
His own obedience, and giving to us communion with 
and devotion to our Maker." Thus God was in Christ 

' V. 14. 2. 

^ III. 18. 7. in amicitiam et concordiam utrosque reducere. 
' V. 2. 1. " sanguinem qui effusus est. ..ex quo auget (Ssiiei = perfundit) 
nostrum sanguinem ; et eum panem,..ex quo nostra auget corpora." 
* in. 18. 7. 'v. 16. 3. 



x] The Incarnation and the Atonement * i8i 

reconciling the world to Himself. For " He bade us 
say in His prayer, ' Remit to us our debts,' for He is our 
Father, Whose debtors we are, having transgressed His 
precept. For how do we obtain remission of sins, unless 
He Himself, against Whom we have sinned, granted us 
remission ' through the bowels of the mercy of God, in 
which He hath visited us,' that is to say, through His 
Son'?" 

Reconciliation in this system would consist in the 
restoration of man to communion with the Father by 
remission of sin, by the gift of incorruptibility, by the 
effusion of the Spirit upon our union with the Father, 
by Christ teaching man to love and serve the Father, by 
His making His obedience ours through winning us to 
obey God, and by His renewing in us the Divine image. 
All this was rendered possible by the Incarnation, in 
which the ancient enmity of man was brought to a head^, 
the ancient handiwork of God was carried to its proper 
issue, and the life of man was recapitulated in the life of 
the Son of God Who became the Son of Man. But all 
this was actually effected by the moral influence and 
spiritual attractiveness which that Son of God exercised 
over the sons of men, whom He would make sons of 
God. Thus " naturalized " to God, we shall glory in our 
effectual Saviour. 

Finally, this reconciliation is universal, embracing 
Adam and all his posterity. " For it was not merely for 
those who believed in Him in the time of Tiberius Caesar 
that Christ came, nor did the Father exert His providence 
solely for those who are now living, but also on account 
of all those who from the beginning have not only feared 
but loved God according to their power, and have dealt 

1 V. 17. I. '■= IV. 40. 3. 



1 82 The Incarnation and the Atonement [ch. x 

justly and mercifully towards their neighbours, and have 
yearned to see Christ and to hear His voiced" It was 
for this reason that the Lord descended into the places 
beneath the earth, proclaiming His own Advent and 
remission of sins for those who believe in Him. Now 
all those who had hopes of Him believed in Him, that 
is, all who foretold His Advent and served His purposes, 
even the just ones, the patriarchs and the prophets, 
whose sins He remitted in the same way as He remits 
-ours^ 

The economy of salvation is, therefore, universal, 
embracing the past and the future, and being an exten- 
sion of the Incarnate grace to every man and uniting all 
in one Body, the Church, in which there is neither Jew 
nor Gentile, but in which men receive the reward of their 
labours ^ 

^ IV. 11. 2. ^ IV. 27. ■.:. * IV. 22. i. 



CHAPTER XI 

BIBLICAL VIEWS 

Interpretation of Scripture, etc. 

Speaking generally, Irenaeus maintained that the 
Scriptures are spiritual ^ and to be discerned spiritually. 
He would not intrust their interpretation to any one 
outside the pale of the Church. Showing a marked 
predilection for mystical exegesis himself, he advised 
the students of Holy Writ to avoid the explanations of 
the sophists, to take refuge in the Church and to be 
educated therein in the Scriptures of the Lordl If 
possible, they were to read the Scriptures with the 
presbyters who were in the Church and who had the 
apostolic doctrine"- For then the general consistency 
of Scripture would be manifest. But they who abandon 
the teaching of the Church accuse the holy presbyters of 
ignorance, not perceiving that even a private Christian 
is superior to a blaspheming sophists Irenaeus did not 
uphold the Church as the infallible interpreter of 
Scripture or commit himself to any such position, but 
he held that some standard such as the Church's "rule of 
truth" (regula veritatis, II. 27. i, III. 2. i) or "preaching" 
(praeconium Ecclesiae, V. 20. 2) should be employed, as 

^ oK<tiv Tujv ypa^wv TrvevfiaTLKUv oi(rCiv, II. 28. 3. 

2 Dominicis scripturis, v. 20. i. 

'' IV. 32. 1. * V. 20. 2. 



184 Biblical Views [ch. 

a sort of critical test by which " sound " views could be 
distinguished from the " unsound." 

He also recognized the difficulties of Scripture, 
writing in il. 28. 3, " If certain matters connected with 
the natural creation are within our sphere of knowledge 
but others lie beyond our ken, why should we be 
troubled if, while we are able by the grace of God to 
explain some of the difficulties in the Scriptures, we 
must leave others in His keeping, not merely in this 
present aeon, but also in the aeon to come ? So God 
shall always be the Teacher and man His pupil. And 
if we, according to this rule, leave certain questions to 
God, we shall preserve our faith and our position without 
peril ; every Scripture given to us by God will be found 
consistent, the parables harmonizing with the passages 
whose meaning is clear and which explain them, and so 
from many diverse utterances one harmonious melody 
shall ascend' as a Magnificat to the great Creator." 

He protests against the " obscurum per obscurius " 
method of exposition which was in vogue among the 
Gnostics of his day, as in ours. In II. lo. I he traces the 
forced explanations of the heretics to the fact that they 
explain ambiguous passages by others equally ambiguous, 
"whereas no question can be solved by another that 
awaits solution ; no difficulty can be removed by another, 
nor can a greater enigma explain enigmas, but things of 
that nature must be interpreted by what is manifest, 
consistent and clear." In the same book^ he recommends 
the study of Scripture, and discusses the interpretation 
of the parables, which are to be explained by the passages 

' alaBT^fferai. Grabe proposes to correct the Latin sentiet to sentietur. 
But the Greek verb does not admit of the passive sense. Stieren suggests 
ci,(r6iiaeTai, will be sung. 

^ c. 27. 



xi] Interpretation of Scripture, etc. , 185 

that are self-evident and set down in express terms. 
And he compares the man who in the case of the 
parables explains what is obscure by what is more 
obscure to one who has his lamp untrimmed and flicker- 
ing when the bridegroom comes, and then has recourse 
to those who darken the solutions of the parables instead 
of to him who supplies a clear exposition gratis, and is 
excluded from the wedding. He himself followed the 
meaning that flows naturally from the text, testing it by 
the rule of faith. And he maintains that " the universal 
Scriptures, both prophets and Gospels, have set down 
openly and without ambiguity and in such a manner 
that all can understand the Unity of the Creator Who 
has made all things through His Word\" 

In II. 25. I he advises expositors not to attach too 
much importance to numbers, as the Gnostics did, for 
" all things, both ancient matters and those wrought in 
modern times by His Word, have been arranged and 
accomplished with wisdom and diligence by God, and 
are not to be harmonized with the number thirty^ but 
with the underlying argument or reason... for the rule 
does not depend upon the numbers, but the numbers 
depend upon the rule. Nor does God depend upon the 
things made, but the things made depend upon God. 
For all things are from one and the same God." Irenaeus, 
however, was influenced himself by numbers in his 
explanation of the fourfold Gospel, which he accepted 
for mystical as well as for historical reasons. 

In IV. 31. I he treats the Old Testament history as 
containing types of the New, quoting with approval the 
' II. 27. 1. 

^ So Massuet : the MSS. have XX. But Massuet rightly observes 
"ad hunc numerum (XXX) non ad XX aptata esse omnia a Deo volebant 
haeretici." 



1 86 Biblical Views [ch. 

advice of a certain presbyter to " seek the type " (typum 
quaerere). At the same time, he protests in V. 35. i 
against the attempt to treat as allegory the prophecies 
of the temporal and earthly realm of the saints in Isaiah 
and the Apocalypse. In his exegesis of the Old Testa- 
ment he adopts the " typical " line. For instance, in his 
notes on the story of Jacob', which he treats as sym- 
bolical, though no less real, he remarks that Rachel, for 
whom Jacob waited, "prefigures the Church for which 
Christ suffered." This was after the manner of Justin, 
who wrote in his Dialogue (c. 134): "But Leah is your 
people and synagogue, but Rachel is our Church, and 
on behalf of these and His servants in both Christ is 
even still serving." Origen follows Irenaeus in his 
treatment of the Old Testament, regarding the planting 
of Eden, for example, as figurative {rpotriKm) and 
serving to set forth mysterious truths in a story : while 
Augustine would treat the life in the garden as a spiritual 
allegory of the Churchy "provided the truth of that 
history be believed I" Irenaeus, with Clement of Rome 
and Justin Martyr", would see types of spiritual truths 
in the story of Rahab, but while they saw in the scarlet 
thread a symbol of the blood of Christ, he treated the 
spies, of whom he says there were three, as types of the 
Father, Son and Holy Spirit*. This was analogy carried 
beyond all bounds. But he well remarked that Christ 
is the clue of prophecy, " Who is the treasure hid in the 
ground, that is the treasure concealed in the Scriptures, 

' IV. 21. 3. 

* De Civ. Dei, xiii. 21. Haec et si qua alia commodius dici possunt 
de intelligendo spiritaliter paradise nemine prohibente dicantur, dum 
tamen et illius historiae Veritas fidelissima rerum gestarum narratione 
commendata credatur. 

' Clem. Rom. 12. Justin, Dial. i. Tryph. t. cxi. 

* IV. 20. 12. 



xi] Interpretation of Scripture, etc. ^ 187 

being indicated of types and parables ^" "When the 
law is read in these days to the Jews it sounds like 
a fable, for they have not the key of the Incarnation 
which explains everything, but when read by Christians 
it is a treasure hid, indeed, in the field, but brought to 
light and explained by the Cross of Christ. It enriches 
the understanding of man and manifests the wisdom of 
God, and announces that so far as man loves God he 
will advance in the vision of God and the hearing of His 
words.'' The concluding words of the previous chapter, 
IV. 25. 3 — " If any one studies the Scriptures attentively, 
he will find therein a discourse concerning Christ {de 
Christo sermoneni) and a prefiguration of the new calling," 
may have suggested to Augustine his explanation of 
prophecy — " De Ipso vel propter Ipsum dicta." 

In IV. 25. 3 he distinguishes between certain principles 
that controlled the composition of Scripture, and conse- 
quently must regulate its interpretation. " Certain things 
had to be announced beforehand by the patriarchs in 
a paternal manner {paternaliter) ; others prefigured by 
the prophets in a legal fashion (legaliter), and others 
described after the type or model of Christ {secundum 
formationem Christi), by those who received the adop- 
tion." 

He also finds not merely in the visions and words of 
the prophets, but in their very actions, foreshadowings 
and types of things that were to be. For instance, his 
comment on the action of Hosea in taking a courtesan 
to wife is as follows : " The Lord will vouchsafe to take 
to Himself from men of such a character a church which 
is to be sanctified by fellowship with His Son, just as 
that woman was sanctified by union with the prophet... 

' IV. 26. I. 



1 88 Biblical Views [cH. 

That which had been done typically by the prophet the 
apostle shows has been actually performed by Christ 
in the Church'." He makes a similar remark with regard 
to Moses' marriage with an Ethiopian woman. 

" As with God there is nothing devoid of purpose or 
without a sign^," every prophecy has a most clear inter- 
pretation after the event, no matter how ambiguous and 
enigmatical it appeared before*. In V. 32. 2 he declares 
that the promises made to Abraham have been fulfilled. 
" For his seed, to whom the promise was made, is the 
Church, which through the Lord receives the adoption 
in God." Again, " the Church is the Paradise planted 
in the world." While " Of every tree of the garden ye 
shall eat," means " of every scripture of the Lord ye shall 
eat, but ye shall not eat with a proud soul nor may ye 
touch heresy at all*." In John iv. 27 — " One soweth and 
another reapeth'," he sees a reference to the two Cove- 
nants and the Church reaping the fruit of the seed that 
was sown by the patriarchs and prophets, and that seed 
was the sermo de Christo". In IV. 29. i he discusses 
certain moral difficulties connected with the Exodus, 
chiefly the hardening of Pharaoh's heart by God, which 
was an offence to the Marcionites, who found fault with 
the character of the God who was represented in such 
a light. And his argument, "it is one and the same 
God (Who blesses others) Who blinds those who do not 
believe but disregard Him ; just like the sun His creature, 
which blinds those who, on account of some weakness of 



' IV. 20. 12. 

^ IV. 21. 3. Nihil enim vacuum neque sine signo apud Deum. Cf. 
IV. 16. I. In signo data sunt haec : non autem sine symbolo erant signa. 
' IV. 26. I. 

* V. 20. 2, cf. Augustine, De Civ. xiii. 21. 
' The Latin verb is metet, future. ' IV. 25. 3. 



xi] Interpretation of Scripture, etc. ' 1 89 

their eyes, cannot behold its light, but to those who trust 
it and follow it, gives a fuller and a larger illumination \" 
is plausible if not convincing. However, he proceeds to 
speak of " self-chosen darkness " (tenebris quas ipsi sibi 
elegerunt), and to base the Divine predestination upon 
the Divine foreknowledge, which lifts the argument to 
a higher level. "And if now God, knowing how many 
will not believe, since He has foreknowledge of all things, 
has given them over unto unbelief, and turned His face 
from them, leaving them to their self-chosen darkness, 
what wonder is it if He then abandoned Pharaoh, who 
would never believe, to his own unbelief?" He devotes 
the following chapter to the justification of the spoiling 
of the Egyptians. But a slight knowledge of Hebrew 
would have saved him from such special pleading. For 
the Hebrew verb ^Kty, used in Ex. xii. 35, in its primary 
sense means ' to ask,' not ' to borrow^' He quotes the 
words of a certain presbyter who said, " if God did not 
permit this in the typical Exodus, no one could be saved 
in the true exodus of faith, for we have all some property 
which we have acquired from the mammon of unright- 
eousness." He regarded the Exodus as a type of the 
going forth of the Church from the Gentiles, to receive 
the inheritance which Jesus the Son of God, not Moses 
the Servant of God, should give (iv. 30. 4). In an 
explanation of Jeremiah xxxi. 10 et sq. he says that the 
promises are not only to the prophets and the fathers 
but also to the churches formed out of the Gentiles, 
which the Spirit calls "isles" because they are situated in 
the midst of turmoil and endure a storm of blasphemies, 

* IV. 29. I. 

^ The primary sense is evidently to be used here. The Egyptians 
were only too glad to be rid of the Israelites and h ped they would never 
see them again. This vi^as not like creditors. 



I90 Biblical Views [ch, 

and are a haven of safety to those in peril, and a refuge to 
those who love the height and desire to escape the depth 
of error'. The concluding portion of the treatise deals 
with Christian and Jewish Apocalyptic, which he would 
not allow to be treated as mere allegory (v, 35. i). He 
believed in a literal fulfilment of such prophecies as 
Is. vi. 12, Ixv. 21, and Rev. xxi. i — ^4, in an earthly reign 
in the new city to be established " at the resurrection of 
the just, after the advent of Antichrist and the destruc- 
tion of all the people who serve him. Then the just 
shall reign on the earth, growing in the vision of the 
Lord, and through Him shall become accustomed to 
behold (capere) the glory of God the Father, and shall 
hold communion and fellowship and union in spiritual 
matters with the holy angels in His kingdom." These 
are some examples of Irenaeus' allegorical method of 
interpretation, which does not appear edifying to us, 
but which had been popular from the earliest days of 
Christianity chiefly because it enabled the Christians to 
interpret the Old Testament Scriptures, the only scrip- 
tures then available, in a Christian sense, and to claim 
them as a Christian and not a Jewish book. 

With regard to the mystical method of Scriptural 
interpretation which we found in Irenaeus and the 
Fathers generally and which held the field for centuries, 
it is but a cheap wit that would regard the underlying 
principle with contempt because of the extravagance of 
its application. Rationalism and common sense rose in 
revolt against the searching of the Old Testament for 
symbols of another set of symbols in the New, and the 
regarding of the rites and history of the Jewish Church 
as symbolical of those of the New, especially when this 
' V. 34. 3. 



xi] Interpretation of Scripture, etc. ' 191 

appeared to be done in the interest of a certain party in 
the Church. New critical methods introduced a saner 
exegesis. But the mystical principle of interpretation, 
which looks for the spirit behind the word of Scripture, 
is undoubtedly the true one. It was said by one of the 
Fathers that " the miracles of our Lord and Saviour are 
to be accepted as having literally taken place, and yet 
as suggestive of some deeper signification. His works 
show His power and also declare a mystery \" That is 
why St John called them "signs." In our day when 
the spirit is asserting its supremacy over matter in 
many various but simultaneous movements we may yet 
learn that it is the Divine Spirit within us that alone can 
teach us to understand the soul of the Scriptures, and as 
we go to school with the Fathers who were in closer 
touch with the great realities, we may come to see some- 
thing in the Scriptures which this enlightened age 
cannot discern so long as it solely employs the rational 
method. 

He also gives certain directions regarding the reading 
of Scripture and punctuation, which may have been 
useful in his day. In III. 7. 2 he points out the necessity 
of attending to the pauses, especially when reading the 
Epistles of St Paul, who by reason of the swiftness of 
his speech and the force of the Spirit frequently fell into 
the mistake known as hyperbaton or the misplacement 
of a word. He cites three instances, 2 Cor. iv. 4 ; 
Gal. iii. 19, and 2 Thess. ii. 8, where wrong punctuation 
led to mistakes. The first passage — " In whom the God 
of this world hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving " 
— which the Gnostics quoted in support of their notion 

of a God of this world who was not the Supreme God 

' Gregory in Migne, vol. Lxxvi. 1083. 



192 Biblical Views [cH. 

should be read so : "In whom God," then pause, and 
read the rest without break, so that the meaning will be : 
" God hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving of this 
world'." This was a distinctly ingenious device, but 
Irenaeus is manifestly wrong. Similarly in Gal. iii. 19: 
" Wherefore then the law of works ? It was added until 
the seed should come to whom the promise was made, 
being ordained by angels in the hand of^a mediator," 
the order is, " Wherefore then the law of works ? Being 
ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator, it was 
added until the seed should come to whom the promise 
was made." He made a similar comment on the reading 
of 2 Thess. ii. 8, suggesting that the clause cujus est 
adventus secundum operationem Satanae should follow 
" iniquus." 

We may suitably conclude this section with his 
remarks on the Church as a teaching body : " The Church 
has come down to us guarded by the fullest treatment 
(tractatione plenissima) of the Scriptures, neither per- 
mitting anything to be added or anything to be taken 
away, and her reading is without corruption of the text, 
and her scriptural exposition is sound and careful, with- 
out peril or blasphemy V 

Inspiration and Private Judgement 

In his exposure of the perversions the Gnostics made 
of the Scriptures, Irenaeus vindicated the unity and 
integrity of the Old and New Testaments. He also 
maintains their inspiration against those who would 

' Cf. TertuU. c. Marc. V. ii. Tertullian suggests the same pause after 
in quibus Deus : but shortly afterwards suggests that the God of this worlcl 
is the devil. 

2 IV. 33. 8. Custodita sine fictione scripturarum tractatione plenissima. 



xi] Inspiration and Private Judgement * 1 93 

deny it in whole or in part. The critics and critical 
problems of his time were much the same as those of 
ours. His words are still a rebuke to those who, like 
the Marcionites, would remove the passages they dislike 
from the text, and also to those who, like the Valentinians, 
would wrest them from their obvious meaning. In 
I. 7. 3, he discusses Valentinus' idea of a threefold 
principle in the prophets. " They divide the prophecies," 
he writes, " allotting one portion to the ' Mother,' a 
second to the ' Seed,' and a third to the ' Demiurge.' " 
In the same way they declared that Jesus spoke certain 
things under the influence of the Saviour, others under 
that of the Mother, and others still under that of the 
Demiurge^ This was parallel to their threefold division 
of man, the earthly, the psychical, and the spiritual. 
But he maintained that the Word was the one source of 
inspiration of the Old Testament writings, saying in the 
fourth book* : " Jesus did not make use of the expression, 
' Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he 
saw it and was glad,' merely for Abraham's sake, but in 
order to show that all who from the beginning came to 
the knowledge of God and predicted the advent of 
Christ, received the revelation from the Son Himself, Who 
in these last days became an object of sight and a subject 
of suffering and conversed with men, so that He might 
from the stones raise up children unto Abraham." 

With regard to the inspiration of the Apostles, he 
writes in III. i. i : "After that our Lord had risen from 
the dead, the Apostles were endued with the power of 
the Holy Spirit that came upon them from on high, and, 

' Origen also points out in Ezek. I. 200 that they regarded some of the 
Scriptures as dictated by a more Divine power than the rest. Cf. Tert. 
{Adv. Val.) 28. 

* IV. 7. 2. 

H. I. 13 



194 Biblical Views [cH. 

being fully convinced on every point', they received 
perfect knowledge." When describing Ezra's work he 
used the word ' inspired'.' 

Canon Sanday" points out that " both Irenaeus and 
TertuUian regarded inspiration as determining the choice 
of particular words and phrases." This form of inspira- 
tion is upheld by Irenaeus in a remarkable connection. 
When combating the Gnostic view that the man Jesus 
was born of Mary and that the Spirit descended at His 
Baptism upon the aeon Christ, he declared that the 
Holy Spirit, anticipating these perverters of the truth 
and guarding against their false interpretations, said by 
Matthew : " Now the birth of Christ was on this wise*." 

With regard to Biblical difficulties, in II. 28. i he says 
that such matters must be left in the hands of God, for 
we know that the Scriptures are perfect, since they are 
the deliverances of the Word of God and His Spirit, 
whereas we being much later than the Word of God and 
His Spirit, are naturally in the same degree more deficient 
in the knowledge of His mysteries." He also described 
the Scriptures as spiritual, 'divine,' and 'the Lord's' 
(dominicae)^ 

At the same time he allowed a certain amount of 

' ab omnibus adimpleti sunt, cf. promissionem adimpletam iii. 16. 2, 
in\ripo<fiopr/j6ri(rav, cf. Lk. i. i, and t^s v\7)po4>oplas ttjs avviaeois Col. ii. 2. 

^ ipiirrevjev III. 2i. 2. ^ Inspiration, p. 34. 

* III. 16. 2. Christi autem generatio sic erat. "This though very 
possibly and probably the right reading is not now found in a single 
Greek MS." (Sanday). All existing Greek MSS. support reading 'Ijjo-oB 
'SpuTTOu (except possibly No. 71, which according to Tischendorf has 
'Xf^uTTov, Cod. B, which has X/jkttoB 'Iijffou and probably D, the Greek of 
which is wanting but the Latin has Christi). With these are the Egyptian 
versions and the Peshito and the Harclean Syriac. For the reading 
XpiiTToO are all the Latin versions and the Curetonian Syriac. It was 
evidently the recognized reading in Gaul and Syria, and is probably right 
as the collocation ItjitoOs Xpiffris occurs only in Acts viii. 37, i John iv. 3, 
Apoc. xii. 17 and is clearly due to a later gloss in all three places. The 
use of 6 XpiffrAs in a gospel intended for Jews would have a special force. 

' 11. 28. 3 spiritalibus, 11. 35. 4 dominicis...divinis. 



xi] Inspiration and Private Judgement ' 195 

play to the human element. For example, we have 
seen how he regarded St Paul's style and his frequent 
use of hyperbaton as due to the impetuosity of his 
language as well as to the force of the Spirit within him^ 
A mechanical view of inspiration would be inconsistent 
even with that amount of individuality. Tertullian goes 
even further, and allows a progressive development of 
the Christian spirit in St Paul^. 

As regards the authority of the Scriptures, Irenaeus 
did not commit himself to any hard and fast rule, recog- 
nizing that certain precepts in the New as well as in the 
Old Testament possessed merely a relative value. He 
cites, for example, in iv. 15. i the well-known formulae 
of I Cor. vii. 12 and 6: "These things I say, not the 
Lord," and "But this I speak by permission, not by 
commandment." In his encounter with the Gnostics 
Irenaeus appealed to Scripture as interpreted by the 
Church. As some of his opponents claimed a Scriptural 
basis for their theories he was led into a discussion of 
certain texts. Among such are : " To all the generation 
of the aeon of aeons'" ; " In Him dwelleth the pleroma 
of God*"; "One iota or tittle shall in no wise pass from 
the law^" In their explanation of such passages the 
Gnostics made the words of Scripture fit in with their 
views. " Regarding neither the order nor connection of 
Scripture, they mutilate the truth by taking passages 
from their context, altering their form and making one 
thing out of another. Thus they deceive many by their 

' propter velocitatem sermonum suorum et propter impetum, qui in 
ipso est Spiritus, HI. 7. 2. 

^ C. Marc. I. 20. Paulus adhuc in gratia rudis ferventer ut adhuc 
neophytus, adversus Judaismum ; postmodum et ipse usu omnibus omnia 
fiiturus ut omnes lucraretur. 

' Eph. iii. 21. I. 3. I. * Col. ii. 9. I. 3. 3. 

* Mt. V. 8. I. 3. I. 

13—2 



196 Biblical Views [ch. 

vicious interpretation of tlie oracles of the Lord^" The 
patchwork made by this process, in recent times famiUar 
to those who have laboured through Mrs Eddy's Key ta 
the Scriptures, he likens unto a rearrangement of precious 
stones, originally constructed to represent a king, into 
the likeness of a dog or a fox. The gems are still the 
same, but the form is different'. 

We learn from Irenaeus that in his time there was 
an orthodox or traditional method of biblical interpreta- 
tion in the Church which was ignored by the Gnostics', 
who claimed to have a traditional explanation of their 
own. It would be strange if there were not a large body 
of oral teaching in the Church, handed down from the 
time of the apostles who were themselves ministers of 
a tradition " once for all delivered to the saints." The 
apostolic writings were written by Churchmen and pre- 
suppose acquaintance with the teaching of the Church 
(see Gal. i. 8, 9). The apostles referred their readers and 
hearers to a Divine unction, which they alone possessed, 
but which they shared with the rest (i John ii. 20). In 
studying the history of the Early Church we may not 
lose sight of the greatest factor in its growth and in 
the formation of its scriptures and tradition, namely 
the Spirit of Christ who led men to right conduct 
and to right belief. See the first epistle of St John" 
Irenaeus has been charged by Ziegler with erecting 
tradition into the greatest authority in the Church*. On 

' I. 8. I. T)f> /ih TdfiK Kal Toi' eip/iiv t&v ypa<pu)i> ilTepPalvovTes... 
fieratpipovffL Sk Kal fierairXATTOvffi. 

^ See I. 3. 6. TrapaTpiiroi/Tes ras ip/iTjvflas Kid fifSiovpyovvres ras 
i^riy^jeii, altering the interpretations and playing fast and loose with the 
expositions, i.e. those accepted by the Church. 

* See also i Cor. xii. 3. "No man can say that Jesus is the Lord save 
by the Holy Ghost." 

* Die Tradition ist also dem Irenaus das an und fUr sich voUkommen 



xi] Inspiration and Private Judgement* i^y 

one occasion he allowed himself to be misled by a tradi- 
tion which he said came from John to the effect that our 
Lord lived to be near the age of fifty years. But it is 
not correct to say that he does not examine the evange- 
lical history, but simply assumes the authority of the 
tradition^ He is careful to put the gospel before the 
tradition, saying, "As the Gospel and all the elders 
testify, who met John the disciple of the Lord in Asia, 
that John had given this information to them"." And 
he appeals to the Gospel authority of John viii. 57, 
" thou art not yet fifty years old," arguing that this 
could only be appropriately said to one who was over 
forty years, but not to one who was only thirty. In his 
letter to Florinus he says that " everything that Polycarp 
related was in agreement with the Scriptures." The 
Scriptures were then his chief authority and test of truth. 
In his controversy with the Gnostics it is chiefly on the 
Scripture that he relies ; and he argues that the Church 
is the proper custodian and interpreter of the Scriptures 
which are her own. The Gnostics were, however, adroit 
antagonists. For when "they are confuted from the 
Scriptures, they shift their position and censure the 
Scriptures, declaring that they are wrong, or are not 
authoritative', or that there are various readings*, and 
that the truth cannot be discovered from these by those 
who do not know the tradition'." Tertullian's method 



zu reichende, alles Wesentliche in sich begreifende, allgemein bekannte, 
die Schrift er^nrende und ihre Auslegung regelnde Princip der christlichen 
Heilserkenntniss, welches then wegen dieser Eigenschaften unbedingte Auto- 
ritdl in Anspruch nehinen muss. Des Irendus Lehre, s. 30. 

' Stewart Means (Saint Paul and the Ante-Nicene Church, p. 192). 

* II. ^^. 5. ' III. 2. 1, neque sint ex auctoritate. 

* Varie sint dictae, or are expressed in different ways. They argued 
that the statements were conflicting or ambiguous. 

5 III. L. 1. 



198 Biblical Views [ch. 

as laid down in De Praescriptionibus'^ was not to argue 
with the heretics concerning the Scriptures, but simply 
to appeal to the true faith which must be in the posses- 
sion of the Church, and which is the only security for 
scriptural truth. " We must inquire," he writes, '' whose 
are the Scriptures ; by whom, and through whom, and to 
whom, and when the Christian discipline was delivered. 
For wherever we shall find true Christian discipline and 
faith, there we shall have scriptural truth, expository 
truth and the truth of all Christian traditions." This 
plan, however, did not always succeed. For Irenaeus 
points out that when the Gnostics are referred to "that 
tradition which originated from the Apostles, which is 
preserved by the successions of the presbyters in the 
Churches, they object to tradition, saying that they 
themselves, being wiser, not merely than the presbyters 
but even than the Apostles, have discovered the truth in 
its purity, whereas the Apostles blended with the words 
of the Saviour the things of the law. They also assert 
that not only the Apostles but also our Lord Himself 
received their inspiration on different occasions from the 
lowest quarter (the Demiurge), the middle region, and 
the highest place (the pleroma), but that they themselves 
know the hidden mystery without ambiguity, pollution 
and alloy. And the result is that they obey neither 
Scripture nor tradition"." The Gnostics also boasted 
that they had discovered their system in the Agrapha^^ 
certain non-scriptural writings. 

Irenaeus was forced to appeal frequently to antiquity 
and apostolic tradition as a safeguard of the faith and of 

^ c. 19, "ubi enim apparuerit esse veritatem et disciplinae et fidei 
Christianae, illic erit Veritas Scripturarum, et expositionum, et omnium 
traditionum Christianarum." 

^ in. 2. 2. ' I. 8. 1, i^ &ypA<piav ivayivwuKovres. 



xi] Inspiration and Pritmte Judgement* 199 

the Bible in the Church against such new-fangled errors. 
"Suppose/" he wrote, "there arose a dispute on some 
matter of importance among us, should we not have to 
refer to the most ancient churches in which the Apostles 
lived, and learn from them what would be actually clear 
and right about the question ? But if the Apostles had 
left us no writings, should we not have to follow the 
order of tradition they handed down to those to whose 
charge they entrusted the churches? This is what is 
done by many foreign nations who believe in Christ, 
having salvation written on their heart by the Spirit 
without paper or ink, and diligently adhering to the old 
tradition'." Tertullian, in the work alluded to^ refers the 
more curious in the matters concerning salvation to "those 
apostolic churches in which the very seats of the Apostles 
are placed, in which their very letters are read, ringing 
with their voice and recalling their appearance." Some 
such advice is necessary at times to check the abuse of 
private judgement. For, as Archbishop Whately said, 
"were the object of our study an ordinary classical 
writer, an interpreter, who, devoid of sobriety of judgment, 
should scorn to study the opinions of the wise and 
learned men who had preceded him, would be likely to 
arrive at conclusions more startling for their novelty 
than valuable for their correctness." 

The Old Testament and the New 
Irenaeus emphasized the true position of the Old 
Testament in the history of revelation. While sympa- 
thizing with the practical lessons and spiritual views of 

' ni. 4. I. 

= c. 36, " percurre ecclesias apostolicas, apud quas ipsae adhuc cathedrae 
apostolorum suis locis praesident ; apud quas ipsae authenticae literae 
eorum recitantur, sonantes vocem et repraesentantes faciem uniuscujusque." 



200 Biblical Views [ch. 

both covenants, he touched the chord that vibrates 
through all the harmonies of Scripture when he declared 
that Christ was the key and link of the twain. He also 
held that the revelation of God was progressive, which 
seems to be the true principle of exposition. In the 
words of Dr Harnack, " The fundamental features of 
Irenaeus' conception are as follows : the Mosaic law and 
the New Testament dispensation of grace both emanated 
from one and the same God, and were granted for the 
salvation of the human race in a form appropriate to the 
times. The two are in part different ; but the difference 
must be conceived as due to causes that do not affect 
the unity of the author and of the main points'." There 
was no change in the revelation, but an increase. 

If it is necessary in our day to insist upon this point 
when arguing with those who regard the law of the Old 
Testament as a compilation made in the interests of 
a certain class, it was equally necessary in those days 
when the Church was confronted with the Gnostics, who 
rejected the Old in whole or in part, and selected certain 
passages of the New Testament to the exclusion of the 
rest. While subordinating the Old to the New Testament, 
according to his view of a Divine accommodation to the 
needs of man and a human advance towards the perfec- 
tions of God, he maintained the organic unity and 
continuity of the Scriptures, asserting that both covenants 
were prefigured in Abraham^. Jesus did not annul but 
fulfilled the law, " performing the ofifices of the high 
priest, propitiating God for man, cleansing the lepers, 
healing the sick, and then dying that exiled man might 

' History of Dogma, Eng. Trans. II. 305. 

2 IV. 25. 3, ut praefigurarentur in eo utraque testamenta...principi et 
praenuntiatori facto nostrae fidei...in unam fidem Abrahae coUigens eos, 
qui ex utroque testaniento apti sunt in aedificationem Dei. 



xi] The Old Testament and the New • 201 

go forth from his condemnation and return without fear 
to his inheritance'." 

In IV. 9 he bases the unity of Scripture on the unity 
of God, the various parts of whose revelation mutually 
correspond. The Householder, even the Lord, Who 
brings out of His treasure things new and old, adapts 
His teaching to the condition of His people. To those 
who are slaves and undisciplined He delivers a law, but 
to those who are free and justified by faith He gives 
suitable precepts. And both Testaments have been 
given by one and the same Householder, the Word of 
God». 

The same views were expressed by Clement of 
Alexandria and Augustine of Hippo. The former 
wrote : " It is manifest that there is one God of both 
Testaments, seeing that they are two in name, given at 
different times, though in regular stages, but one in 
power. The Old and the New are given by one God 
through His Son, Who taught the same way of salvation, 
that commenced in the prophets and was consummated 
in the Gospel through one and the same Lord'." And 
the latter declared: "We wrong the Old Testament 
when we deny it comes from the same just and good 



' IV. 8. 2. non enim solvebat, sed adimplebat legem. 

' Utraque testamenta unus et idem paterfamilias produxit, Verbum Dei, 
Dominus noster Jesus Christus, qui et Abrahae et Moysi coUocutus est, qui 
nobis in novitate restituit libertatem, et muUipIicavit earn, quae ab ipso 
est, gratiam. 

' Strom, II. 444. ^TreiS-i; 5iio aSroi (SiaSiJicai) ivifiari Kal XP^''V> f"^' 
i]\iKiav Kal TTpoKOTTTjv oIkovo/ukG}S deSofj^vat, dvv6.fi€i fjla. outrai, t] fjiep iraXati, 
ij 8^ KaivT), 8ici Tiov Tap ^6s 6eou xw/''77oi'^Tai.,.T^i' ^k irpotpTjTeias eij 
^vayy^Xtov TeTe\ei<i)fUv7]v , 5t' ivos Kal tov o/jtov 'Kvpiov SiSdtTKCiii' truT-qpiav. 
Cf. also Strom, in. 545, t6v aiirdv 6e6v dik v6fiov Kal wpotfyrjTuiv Kal Euay- 
yeXlov 6 'A7r6(rTo\os KTjpiaaei. In Strom, III. 549 he opposed Tatian, 
saying that the ' old man ' is the law, but the ' new man ' is the Gospel, but 
it is the same man and Lord who is the author of both, TraXaid Kaivll^uiv. 



202 Biblical Views [cH. 

God, and, on the other hand, we wrong the New Testa- 
ment if we place the Old on a level with it\" 

The Old Testament, valuable as it is, is limited when 
compared with the complete and catholic character of 
the New. " The law which was given for liberty is 
greater than that which was given for service ; and was, 
therefore, not confined to one nation but was spread 
through the whole world. But there is one and the 
same Lord Who gives something greater than the temple, 
or Solomon or Jonah to men, and that is His own 
presence and the resurrection from the dead, not indeed 
changing the deity, or preaching another Father, but the 
very same Who has ever more and more gifts to bestow 
upon the members of His household, and as their love 
to God increases, gives more and greater things " (iv. 9. 
2). The New Testament teaches of the same Father, the 
same Christ and the same spirit as the Old, but with 
more light and fulness. " When our consummation has 
been attained, we shall not see another Father, nor 
expect another Christ and Son of God than Him Whom 
we believe and love, nor receive another spirit than He 
Who is now with us, but we shall make increase and 
advance in their very selves, so that we shall enjoy the 
gifts of God, no longer as in a mirror but face to face. So 
now after the Incarnation we have learnt of no other 
Father than Him Who was revealed from the beginning, 
nor of another Christ the Son of God than Him Who 
was announced by the prophets (iv. 9. 2). Seeing that 
the New Testament was known to and proclaimed by 
the prophets. He Who was the author of it was also pro- 
claimed, being made manifest as the Father wished, so 

' De Gestis Pelag. v. (15). "Sicut veteri Testamento si esse ex Deo. 
bono et summo negetur, ita et novo fit injuria si veteri aequetur." 



xi] The Old Testament and the New . 203 

that those who believe in Him might always make 
progress, and by means of these testaments might come 
to the ripeness of perfection^." " For here is one salvation 
and one God, but the precepts which mould the life of 
man are many and the steps which lead to God are not 
a few " (IV. 9. 3). 

Accordingly, the secret of the unity of the Scriptures 
amid their diversity is this, that they are from one and the 
same Father. " All the Apostles taught that there were 
two testaments (or covenants) for the two peoples ; but 
that there was but one and the same God Who ordained 
both for the benefit of men who would believe*." " For 
how did the Scriptures testify of Him unless all things 
had always been revealed to believers by one and the same 
God through the Word, now speaking with His creature, 
anon giving him the law, now reproving and now 
exhorting, and eventually setting free His servant and 
adopting him as a son, and in the fulness of time bestow- 
ing upon him the inheritance of incorruption that leads 
to the perfection of man? For God made man for 
growth'." And He intended him " to advance in the way 
of salvation by means of the testaments^" Again he 
writes : " God is not like an earthly king, whose gifts are 
capriciously bestowed, but He is always the same and 

' per Testamenta maturescere perfectum salutis. Harvey reads pro- 
fectum (irpoCTir-^ii) ; Grabe regards it as equivalent to "ad perfectam 
salutem " ; Massuet interprets it as perfection or consummation ; Erasmus 
and others read per effectum. Seeing that adveniente perfecto (when the 
consummation has been reached) occurs in the previous paragraph 
(IV. 9. 2), there ought to be no difficulty \{ perfectum sahitis be treated 
as accusative of respect after maturescere: cf. ascendere ad perfectum 
(v. 19. 2). Cf. use of maturescere, iv. 37. 7 et tandem aliquando maturus 
fiat homo, in tantis maturescens ad videndum et capiendum Deum ; 
IV. 5. I qui temporalia fecit propter hominem ut maturescens in eis 
fructificet immortalitatem ; v. 29. i maturans (active) ad iriimortalitem. 
Profectum occurs in IV. 11. i homo profectum percipiens. 

" IV. 32. i. ' IV. II. 1. Cf. Clem. Alex. Strom. 11. 444. 

■* IV. 9. 3. 



204 Biblical Views [ch. 

ever desires to give a larger share of grace to mankinds" 
Accordingly, the progress of His revelation is uniform 
and orderly. The course of revelation was adapted to the 
spiritual life and development of man. As God is the 
goal of man's life and aspirations, the Divine teachings 
have been adapted to this end, that man might learn to 
understand the mysteries of God, first in symbols, then 
in realities. "The former testament was not given 
without purpose, casually or in vain, but to bend^ those 
to whom it was given to the will of God for their own 
good. For God needs no service from man. It, there- 
fore, exhibited a type of heavenly things, inasmuch as 
man was not able to perceive by his own vision the 
things of God ; and it contained symbols of ordinances 
which are now in the Church, so that our faith might be 
established, and it had a prophecy of things to come so 
that man might learn that God had foreknowledge of all 
things'." This is an interesting use of prophecy. 

While Irenaeus is not blind to the differences between 
the Old and the New Testament, which were emphasized 
by his opponents (iii. 12. 12), he maintained that the 
chief difference between them was one of degree, not 
of kind, of progress, not of principle, inasmuch as they 
had the same origin and author. Temporary concessions 
were made during the earlier stages of both as an ac- 
commodation to human weakness. But these permissions 
were provisional, and served the purpose of leading men 
to higher things. See IV. 15. 2 and III. 12. 11, where he 
describes both Testaments as containing precepts that 
were concessions to human weakness and as themselves 



^ concurvans ((rvyKi/j.wTui'), Massuet from Clerm. concurrans, al. 
concurrens. 
* IV. 32. ■2. 



xi] The Old Testament and the New • 205 

"adapted to the times'." They were both given "for 
the benefit of man." 

The key of the Old is the New. For the law can 
only be read in the light of the Incarnation. When the 
light from the Cross fell upon the dark page of Scripture, 
it became a treasure to the Christians, who alone can 
understand and explain the Incarnation of the Son of 
God". The Incarnation brought additional light and 
new grace to man, for " one and the same Lord gave 
a larger share of grace than was contained in the Old 
Testament to a later generation through the Incarnation'." 

Origen said the same thing in his fine phrase : " The 
inspired character of the prophetic writings and the 
spiritual nature of the law of Moses flashed (eXafi-^frev) 
upon man when Jesus came to dwell among us. Clear 
proofs of the inspiration of the Old Testament could not 
well be given before that Advent. But then the light 
that was in the law was unveiled and shone out, and 
its good things came gradually within the ken of man*." 

The love of God is the ideal of both covenants, being 
the fulfilment of the spirit of the moral law of the Jews 
and being the moral law of Christ. The Lord Himself 
uttered the words of the Decalogue. Therefore they 
remain a permanent possession, having been extended 
and expanded, but not abrogated, by His Advent in the 
flesh. But the Mosaic law of bondage was cancelled by 

' IV. 15. 2, Si igitur in Novo Testamento quaedam praecepta secundum 
ignoscentiam Apostoli concedentes inveniuntur, propter quorundam incon- 
tinentiam ut non obdurati tales, in totum desperantes salutem suam, 
apostatae fiant a Deo ; non oportet miraii si et in veteri testamento idem 
Deus tale aliquid voluit fieripro uiilitate populi. \\\. 12. 11, Cognoscens et 
earn quae est secundum Moysem legem, et gratiam Novi Testamenti, 
utraque apta temporibus, ad utilitatem humani generis ab uno et eodem 
praestita Deo. 

" IV. 26. 1. 

' IV. II. 3. < De Prin, IV. 6. 



2o6 Biblical Views [ch. 

the covenant of liberty. The laws, however, which are 
natural, noble and universal have received extension and 
intensity, so that the man may know God the Father 
and love Him with all his heart and follow His word, 
and abstain not only from sinful deeds but even from evil 
thoughts^ "Christianity," wrote Lord Beaconsfield, " majr 
be incomprehensible without Judaism, but Judaism is 
incomplete without Christianity." For the pre-eminence 
of the New Testament is assured by its higher tone of 
morality, its purer faith, its grander hope. As Irenaeus 
well remarks, " In the New Testament faith has been 
enhanced by the Incarnation of the Son of God, so that 
man might have a share in the Deity ; and morality has 
been equally raised by being extended to purity of 
thought, conversation and word^" Mr Latham in 
Pastor Pastorum expresses this distinction r " Our Lord," 
he writes, " does not destroy the law, but supersedes it 
by bringing God's ways to light, and merging in this 
light the previous partial revelations of which the Mosaic 
law was one. A mathematician supersedes the practical 
rules which the pupil at first employs for solving particular 
cases of a problem by giving a complete and general 
sotation of the whole subject. This may illustrate the 



' IV. i6. 5, quae autem naturalia et liberalia, et communia omnium, 
auxit et dilatavit sine invidia largiter donans hominibus per adoptionem, 
Patrem scire Deum et diligere enm ex toto corde, etc. See also iv. 13. 4, 
naturalia omnia praecepta communia sunt nobis et illis, in illis quidem 
initium et ortum habuerunt ; in nobis autem augmentum et adimpletionem 
perceperunt. Assentire enim Deo, et sequi ejus rerbum, et super omnia 
diligere eum, et proximum sicut seipsum, et abstinere ab omni mala 
operatione, et quaecunque talia communia utrisque sunt, unum et eundem 
ostendunt Deum. 

^ IV. 28. 2, in novo Testamento ea quae est ad Deum^ fides hominum 
aucta est, additamentum accipiens Filium Dei, ut et homo fieret particeps 
Dei ; ita et diligentia conversationis adaucta est, cum non solum a malis 
operibus abstinere jubemur, sed etiam ab ipsis malis cogitationibus, et 
sermonibus vacuis et verbis scurrilibus. 



xi] The Old Testament and the New 207 

way in which our Lord merges the particular case of 
human conduct in a wider rule embracing human dis- 
positions, and which regards not only what men do, but 
also what they are, and what they will become." In the 
words of Augustine^ " Novum Testamentum in Vetere 
latet, Vetus Testamentum in Novo patet." The New 
Testament lies hidden in the Old ; the Old lies open in 
the New. Irenaeus' order is : " The Lord, the Apostles 
and the prophets^" But while thus emphasizing the 
difference between the New and the Old, Irenaeus is 
careful to insist upon their unity and harmony". As he 
looked back from the standpoint of the New Testament 
upon the Old, he could find nothing there that could add 
to the revelation of the things of Christ that is given in 
the New, but it served to complete his view of the one 
grand scheme of Divine grace which was perfected in 
Christ, the continuity and proportion of which can only 
be fully realized when one traces its gradual development 
through the prophets, the Lord Himself and His apostles, 
and believes in the revelation given " a prophetis omnibus, 
et Apostolis et ab ipso Spiritu," III. 19. 2. 

' Quaest. 73 in Exodum. 

^ III. 17- 4- ^ Ki5pios iiaprvpa Kai ol iirbtXToKoi, oixoKoyovai KoX ol 
Tpoi/>Tfrai KTjpiTTovffi (the logical order), but in I. 8. i we have Trapo/SoXpy 
KvpiaKd.s 7] jyijffeis wpo(lyr]TiKas 7] \6yovs 6.Tro(rTo\iKoO$f and in 1. 9. i oUre 
IlpoiprJTai iK'^pv^av, oOre 6 Kipios iSlda^ey othe 'ATrioroAoi irapiSioKav 
(chronological order)i and in II. 35. 3 praedicatio Apostolum, et Domini 
magisterium et Prophetarum annuntiatio (the reverse order). 

* unitas et consonantia, in. 13. 12. Cf. Clem. Alex. Strom. VI. 784, 
IJ-ouauc^v av/i^uvlcai t^v iKK\iiauurTi.K^v v6/iov Kai irpoifniTwv OjUoC koI iiro(r- 
Tb\av aiv koX tQ ^vayyeKlif (cf. Adv. Haer. i. 3. 6). See further 
Strom. III. 551, TJjK 6,Ko\ovBliui toC vbjuni rpbs ri EiayyiXmv. See also 
his remarks on the Ecclesiastical Canon, Strom, vi. 804, where he defines 
it as ^ (rwwSia Ka.X t] (rvfi(pavla vi/wv re /cai irpoipriTuv tj KarA, t^v toO 
Kvpiov irapovffLav TrapadidofjUvri dta6-^Kjj, 



2o8 Biblical Views [ch. 

The Law and the Gospel 

Irenaeus has been censured by an able American 
writer' for adopting "the conception of the Gospel as 
the ' Nova Lex ' which appears on the very threshold of 
this century," and for not grasping, in the writer's opinion, 
the fundamental religious difference between the law and 
the Gospel. No doubt the hostile attitude of the Gnostics 
to the Old Testament caused the Church people to 
emphasize the historical unity of the two covenants. 
But it is not quite accurate to say that Irenaeus " lost 
sight of the essential originality of the new covenant in 
its spiritual interpretation of life and its religious signifi- 
cance." '' Irenaeus," he admits, " insists upon the novelty 
of the Gospel ; but when we seek to discover in what 
this novelty consists, we do not find that it is in the abro- 
gation of the law and the establishment of a religious, 
spiritual and filial relation, but in some purely historical 
and external phenomena which of themselves do not 
contain any principle of spiritual life." Now there are 
passages in Irenaeus which show that he recognized that 
the Gospel did introduce a new spiritual relation of man 
to God. See IV. 1 3. 2 et sq. where he describes the law 
as working by compulsion, and the Word of God as 
liberating the soul of man not that he might depart from 
God but that, having obtained more of His grace, he 
might love Him more (plus gratiam ejus adepti, plus 
eum diligamus). The liberty of loving and serving God 
as His freeborn sons^, faith in Christ and His example, 

^ Rev. Stewart Means in St Paul and the Nicene Church (pp. 182 
et sq.). 

' IV. 13. i, liberi, children, as well as free men; earn pietatem et 
obedientiam quae est erga patrem familias, esse quidem eandem et servis 
et liberis. See also III. 20. 2, de homine qui fiiit inobediens Deo, dehinc 



xi] The Law and the Gospel ' 209 

through Whom, in mercy, we have received the adoption, 
increased confidence in God (majorem fiduciam), a 
greater spirit of affection and obedience (pleniorem sub- 
jectionem et affectionem infixam) in our hearts to Him, 
coupled with a larger extension of the principles of the 
old law and the universal character of the Gospel, and 
the new emphasis upon the inner life, the purity of 
motive and singleness of aim, these alterations were the 
work of Him, " non dissolventis Legem sed adimplentis 
et dilatantis in nobis," and were intended to lead to 
a major et gloriosior operatio. Under the old law the 
body helped to train the soul : under the gospel the soul 
serves to purify the body'. Surely this was a radical 
and a spiritual change effected by One Who frequently 
Himself drew upon the Hebrew scriptures for the illustra- 
tions and subjects of His own discourses, and Who came 
not to destroy but to fulfil the Old in the New by giving 
a fuller revelation of the Father and a larger share of the 
Divine Spirit and liberty and love to those who believe 
and obey. Whereas obedience is the practical test of 
belief ^ and faith is an inner principle that is manifested in 
obedience', belief and obedience are themselves supported 
upon and inspired by the spiritual and Divine power of 
love. The knowledge of God which is through the Son 
renews man ; to believe in God is inseparable from abiding 

misericordiam consecutus est, per Filiutn Dei earn quae est per ipsum 
percipiens adoptionem. In v. lo. 2 he quotes Rom. viii. 14 — "as many as 
are led by the Spirit of God they are the sons of God." See also IV. 41. 3, 
quando credunt et subjecti sunt Deo perseverant et doctrinam ejus 
custodiunt, filii sunt Dei. See ill. 6. i, de his qui adoptionem perceperunt 
...hi autem sunt ecclesia, and Christus...qUi filios Dei facit credentes in 
nomen suum. 

' IV. 13. i, Lex per ea quae foris erant corporalia animam erudiebat ; 
Verbum autem liberans animam et per ipsam corpus voluntarie emundari 
docuit. The spiritual principle is made supreme, cf. 11. 33. 2. 

^ IV. 6. 5, credere autem ei est facere ejus voluntatem. 

" IV. 4:. 3, above. 

H. I. 14 



2IO Biblical Views [ch. xi 

in His love; and the love of God gives life*, (i) To 
embrace God in the heart through faith, Who has given 
us the adoption of sons^ and Who gives to those who 
love Him a vision of Himself and the enjoyment of 
His goodness*; (2) to have a spiritual apprehension of 
Christ", Who washes and cleanses the man who is in 
bondage to sin' ; to embrace the Word and ascend to 
Him Surpassing the angels, and to be fashioned after the 
image and likeness of God'; and (3) to carry the Spirit 
within us Who makes us spiritual and gives us an earnest 
of immortality and makes us conform to the Word of 
God* — these are some of the Gospel privileges, which 
Irenaeus fully acknowledged. Is it correct then to say 
that a morality based upon such principles and which 
could find expression in such a sentence as this, " It is not 
sacrifices that sanctify the man, but the pure conscience 
of the offerer that sanctifies the sacrifice " (iv. 1 8. 3), is 
" external and superficial," or that " the inner or personal 
and subjective character of faith as a communion of the 
soul with God and a union with Christ is not recognized 
by him'"? 

' Agnitio Dei renovat hominem (v. 12. 4); Agnitio enim Patris 
Filius;...et per Filium revelata (iv. 6. 7); credere Deo et perseverare in 
dilectione (11. 26. i), dilectione quae hominem vivificat (11. 26. i). 

2 rous x^po^^"^^^ '^'^^ ^\4TovTas aiirbv did. iri(rT€0}s (iv. 20. 5) ; did. ttjs 
vloBertas, receiving the gift of the Spirit (v. 12. 2).- 

' hoc concedit iis qui se diligunt, id est, videre Deum (iv. 20. 5). 

* dTToXaiieii' rrji xP'!''^''67T)tos airoS {ibid.). 

" post agnitionem Christi (iv. 27. 2). 

' qui abluit et eraundat eum hominem qui peccato fuerat obstructus 
(iv. 27. i). 

' capiat verbum, et ascendat ad eum, supergrediens angelos, et fiat 
secundum imaginem et similitudinem Dei (v. 36. 2). 

' qui portant Spiritum ejus (iv. 20. 5); assuescentes capere et portare 
Deum...pignus hoc habitans in nobis (cf. Spiritus Dei habitat in nobis) 
spiritales facit, et absorbitur mortale ab immortalitate (v. 8. i) ; caro 
conformis facta Verbo Dei (v. 9. 2). 

' Stewart Means (op. cit. pp. 188, 190). The same writer says "Irenaeus 
nowhere spealcs of prayer, while it is the burden of all St Paul's writings " 
(p. 189). But see iv. [8. 6, est altare in caelis : illuc enim preces nostrae 
et oblationes diriguntur. 



CHAPTER XII 

THE CANON OF THE NEW TESTAMENT 

The process of the formation of the Canon of the 
New Testament is wrapt in obscurity. It emerges quite 
suddenly in the works of Tertullian, Irenaeus, and the 
Muratorian fragment', and a note of Melito of Sardis 
preserved in the history of Eusebius^ But it was to be 
expected that such a canon would be formed at some 
time by a Church which was aware of the influence 
exercised by the Jewish Canon upon the composition of 
early Christian writings. Certain circumstances men- 
tioned by Irenaeus hastened the formation of the Canon 
in the different communities. Controversies with the 
Montanists, who claimed inspiration for their prophetic 
utterances and rejected the gospel of St John because of 
the promise of the Paraclete, which Montanus claimed 
for himself ; with Marcion, who, as Tertullian says, 
" openly used a knife not a pen when dealing with the 
Scriptures*," and only accepted a mutilated version of 

■* Assigned by Tischendorf to i6o — 170 ; by Hilgenfeld to the time 
of Irenaeus, by Westcott to 170; by Harnack to 170 — 190. According 
to the latter there was no Canon of the N.T. in Rome before 200 A.D. 
Theolog. Lit. 188, 643. 

* IV. 26. ' III. II. 9. See Harvey's note 11. 51. 

* De Praes. 38. And Adv. Haer. iii. 12. 12. Unde Marcion et ei qui 
ab eo sunt, ad intercidendas conversi sunt scripturas, quasdam quidem in 
totum non cognoscentes, secundum Lucam autem Evangelium et Epistolas 
Pauli decurtantes, haec sola legitima esse dicunt, quae ipsi minoraverunt. 
See further I. 27. 2, where Marcion is said to have mutilated both St Luke's 
Gospel and the Pauline Epistles, cutting out of the former all that referred 

14—2 



2 1 2 The Canon of the New Testament [ch. 

the Third Gospel and the Pauline Epistles; with 
Valentinus and his school, who had more gospels than 
the original four, using chiefly one they styled "the 
gospel of truth," which was full of blasphemy' ; with the 
Gnostic Marcosians, who used an infinite number of 
apocryphal works which were palpable forgeries"; with 
the Ebionites, who only read the Gospel of Matthew 
and rejected the writings of St Paul because they alleged 
he was an apostate from the law ; with those who 
separated Jesus from Christ, saying that Christ remained 
impassible but that Jesus suffered, and preferred the 
Gospel of Mark', and with those " who pervert the sense 
of Scripture*," and "garble its passages'" — these several 
conflicts made a fixed and recognized list of inspired 
writings a necessity. 

Other causes which helped to forward the work of 
the settlement of the New Testament Canon were (i) the 
collection of manuscripts for the libraries of Caesarea 
and Alexandria, (2) the translation of the gospels and 
epistles into different dialects and languages, (3) the use 
of vellum books instead of papyrus rolls, (4) the formation 
of the creeds, and (5) the desire of the Church to seal 
the apostolic source of her faith and constitution. It was 
felt necessary to give to the words of the Lord and to 

to our Lord's generation, and to God the Father as the Creator ; and from 
the latter erasing every allusion to the Creator as the Father of our Lord 
and to prophecies which foretold His coming. 

1 III. II. 9, veritatis Evangelium in nihilo conveniens Apostolorum 
Evangeliis. 

* I. 20. I) diJui6r]Tov irX^ffos diroKpi^uv Koi vbBuv ypatpdv. 

' ni. II. I. The difficulty is to know who are meant. The Ophites, 
Harvey suggests. They may have identified the Gospel of the Egyptians 
which they used (Hippolytus Ph. v. 7) with St Mark the founder of the 
See of Alexandria. According to Origen Adv. Cels. 6. 28, the Ophites 
cursed Jesus. 

* III. 12. 12, Scripturas quidem confitentur interpretationes veto 
convertunt. " l. 19. i, iKKiyovn^ iKTwv ypatfiiiv. 



xii] The Canon of the New Testament * 213 

the " acts " and letters of the Apostles the imprimatur 
of " sacred," and thus safeguard them from interpolation 
and distinguish them from other books which were read 
for general edification. 

There must have been such a canon, if not formally 
made, at least generally recognized, in the days of 
Irenaeus. Otherwise his arguments against the falsifica- 
tion of the Scriptures by subtractions and additions 
would have had no point. " Such a collection," Harnack 
observes^ "is regarded by Irenaeus and Tertullian as 
completed. A refusal on the part of the heretics to 
recognize this or that book is already made a severe 
reproach against them. Their bibles are tested by the 
Church compilation as the older one, and the latter 
itself is already used exactly like the Old Testament." 
We already see the results of the existence of such a canon 
in Irenaeus, (i) harmonistic interpretations, (2) theories 
of inspiration, (3) the recognized authority, (4) sufficiency 
of the Scriptures, and (5) combination and collection of 
passages and texts. Truly no greater creative act on 
the part of the new Church could be conceived than its 
assignment of a rank and position to its own writings 
equal if not superior to that of the Old Testament. 
And yet this act must have been made some time previous 
to the composition of this great treatise, for Irenaeus not 
merely applied the term " Scriptures " to the gospels and 
epistles of the N. T., thereby coordinating them with the 
O. T. (ill. i), but he placed the apostolic books on a 
higher level than the old, referring in connection with John 
the Baptist', who was more than a prophet, " occupying 
the place both of a prophet and an apostle," to the Pauline 
expression, "first apostles and secondly prophets," in 

' History of Dogma, II. 44. ^ III. 11. 4. 



214 The Canon of the New Testament [ch. 

which he read an indication of the relative value of the 
Old and New Testaments. This statement evidently 
applies to the apostolic letters as well as to the Gospels. 
For in I. 3. 6 he distinguishes between the " evangelical 
and apostolic " works, the usual name for the collection 
of New Testament writings' — compare TertuUian, De 
Bapt. IS, "tam ex Domini evangelic quam ex apostoH 
litteris " — on the one hand, and those of the law and the 
prophets on the other^. Although the earliest list of 
canonical scriptures of the New Testament — that of the 
Muratorian fragment, the Latin of which has been 
published by Dr Zahn — is allotted by Harnack to 170- 
190 A.D., and, indeed, may have been earlier, we find 
that about the same time every book of the New Testa- 
ment, except the Epistle to Philemon, which was, 
however, cited by. Ignatius, and 3 John, was quoted by 
Irenaeus. He is, therefore, one of the earliest witnesses 
of the New Testament, to which he refers by name in 
IV. 9- 3, '' Novo enim Testamento cognito et praedicato 
per prophetas." 

The Gospels 

The work of sifting the true Gospels from the false 
had already commenced before the treatise saw the light 
of day. Hegesippus, an early authority on episcopal 
succession, in his Memoirs had already (A.D. 180) dis- 
tinguished the apocryphal from the canonical writings'. 

1 Cf. Clement of Alex. Strom. V. 784, where he speaks of the harmony 
of the law and the prophets, and of the Apostles and the Gospels. 

^ iK Tuv €iayy€\iKuy Kal t(ov dtroffTokiKicv . . Ak vdfiov kcu Trpo<fyriT(aVf 
cf. I. 8. I, jrapa/SoXas /cupia/cds ^ ^<!ci$ irpoijyitTiKh.s rj X(570us aTTOffToXiKoi/s. 

3 Eus. /I.E. IV. 22, where Hegesippus is represented as speaking of 
a Gospel according to the Hebrews and a Syriac Gospel, and saying that 
certain tuk aToKpv<pojv were concocted by some heretics of his own time, 
and quoting from an " unwritten Jewish tradition." 



xii] The Gospels * 215 

The steps of this sifting process were many and various. 
Couched in a language innocent of later theological 
formulae, and of the Docetic and Gnostic controversies 
(unlike the Fourth Gospel), stereotyped in memory, 
handed down by word of mouth, perhaps committed to 
writing in a day that was full of the traditions of the 
Jewish temple and the priestly aristocracy, when the air 
was still vibrating with rabbinical quibbles, the Synoptic 
Gospels are now easily distinguished from the apocryphal 
Gospels of the Infancy of Christ, the Protevangelion, and 
the Nativity of Mary, etc., which present a strong negative 
argument for the historical truth of our Gospels. But in 
early times the apocryphal Gospels were also read in the 
churches. Serapion, Bishop of Antioch (A.D. 190 — 203), 
found the Gospel of Peter read in Rhossus, and allowed 
its use with some cautions. But after he had procured 
a copy he discovered Docetic tendencies, which he 
denounced ^ and which are also apparent in the fragment 
of the gospel discovered in Egypt in 1886. Clement of 
Alexandria {Strom. III. 465) distinguishes the four Gospels 
from that according to the Egyptians, which Origen 
characterized as an heretical writing. The latter also 
mentioned the Gospel of the Twelve Apostles as an 
heretical writing {Homil. in Luc. III. 932). 

Devoid of extravagant details and Docetic ideas, the 
four Gospels were freely enriched with notes and 
comments by churchmen and heretics. Harmonies and 
expositions composed of these four served to place them 
upon a pedestal of their own, so that in the days of 
Irenaeus they were regarded as the only canonical 
Gospels or as the "four-formed Gospel'." He gives 

1 Eusebius H.E. vi. 11. 

^ Terpdfiopipov to EiayyiXiov (twice) III. 1 1. 8. 



2i6 The Canon of the New Testament [ch. 

certain mystical reasons why they should be neither 
more nor less than four. In a passage that recalls the 
Shepherd of Hermas\ in which the Church is described 
as an aged woman who became young, and is seated 
upon a stool that rested upon four feet and stood firmly, 
" for the world is held together by four elementsV' 
Irenaeus states that while the organic unity of the 
Gospels is assured because "they are held together by 
one Spirit^," its fourfold form corresponds to the four 
quarters of the heaven, the four principal winds, the 
four-visaged cherubim in the Jewish dispensation, "whose 
faces are symbols of the operation of the Son of God," 
and the four catholic covenants given to mankind*. 

His words on the Gospels themselves are too impor- 
tant to be omitted. In ill. i. i he wrote: "Matthew 
published a written gospel, lit. a writing or scripture of 
a gospel, among the Hebrews in their own language, 
while Peter and Paul were preaching at Rome and 
founding the Church : an'd after their decease Mark, the 
disciple and interpreter of Peter, he also handed down to 
us in writing what Peter used to preach". And Luke, 

1 Vis. III. 13. 

^ 6 Kbfffios 5ia reatrdpiav ffTOtx^tojv KpareiTai. 

' ivl si iryeifii.an (rwexiticpov III. 11. 8. 

* III. II. 8, riacrapa KXifiara toO Kifffwv, riaffapa KaSoKiKi, irr/ei/iara, 
rk Xepov^l/j. reTpairpdffOJira, {to. irpdcrojira a^ruv eUdves ttjs Tpayfiareias rod 
TioC ToO feoO), TeTpdfiop^a to. fua, TeTpdfiop<pov rb eiayyi\iov koX tj irpay/ia- 
Tela Tov Kvplov, riaaapei KadoKiKoX SmBtjkm (Noah's, Abraham's, Moses' 
Christ's). 

° The influence of Papias is apparent in this passage. Of Matthew 
Irenaeus wrote, iv tols ''E/Spalois t^ ISlq. Si.aKiKTip airSv ypa^rjv ^^■^veyKfv 
eiayye\lov; and Papias, 'B|8paf5i SraW/cTij) tA \6yi.a (7vveypa.\j/a,To (Euseb. 
H.E. in. 39). Of Mark Irenaeus said b /j.a$riT7is Kal ip/jtrjvfVTijs Xlh-pov 
(cf. III. 10. 6, interpres et sectator Petri), koX aiSris ra iirb UiTpov K-qpvaab- 
lieva iyypd^iiis Tiiiiv irapaSiSuKe ; and Papias, ^pix-qvevr-qs IHrpov (os wpbs 
ras XP^'"5 iTTOieiTO ras SiSao-fcaXias) oVa i/ivqp.bvevirei' d/cpi/3us lypa-^ev. 
Eusebius (H.E. ill. 39) describes Papias as a(j>6dpa ff/iiKpbs tov yow, .says 
"he recorded many things that came down by oral tradition, viz. some 
strange parables and teachings of the Saviour and other things of a rather 



xii] The Gospels ♦217 

the attendant of Paul, recorded in a book the Gospel 
preached by him. And then John, the disciple of the 
Lord, who also reclined upon His breast, he too published 
(i^eSmKe) the Gospel during his residence in Ephesus. 
These all proclaim one God the Creator, and one Christ, 
the Son of God. Any one who refuses to believe these 
truths despises the companions of the Lord, nay, he 
despises Christ Himself and the Father." In ill. 11. 8, 
he describes the different characters of the Gospels of 
Christ as represented by the four-faced {reTpairpoawTra) 
cherubim. " For the first living creature was like a lion, 
a symbol of His force, leadership and royalty ; the second 
like a calf, an emblem of His sacrificial and sacerdotal 
order; the third had the face of a man, a very clear 
description of His appearance among us ; while the 
fourth was like a flying eagle, signifying the gift of the 
Spirit Who descends as in flight upon the Church. The 
Gospels were in harmony with these types ; for upon 
them Christ is seated. The Gospel according to John 
explains His regal and glorious generation from the 
Father, saying, ' In the beginning was the Word,' and 
'All things were made by Him, and without Him was 
nothing made.' But the Gospel according to Luke, 
seeing that it is of a priestly character, commenced with 

mythical character, among the latter, the statement that there would be a 
period of a thousand years after the resurrection, and that the Kingdom of 
Christ would be set up in a material form upon the earth. This was owing 
to his not perceiving that the things recorded by the Apostles in figures 
were mystically spoken. It was through him that so many churchmen 
after him adopted this opinion, as for instance Irenaeus." Irenaeus gave 
a description of a marvellous vine in v. 33. 3 where he says TaCra 5^ xal 
\laTlas 6 'luivvov ft^v &.K0V(7Tfjs, IIoXi/K(i/)7roii 5k kratpos yeyovibs, dpxatos 
dvfip, iyypii(fnijs eirifiapTvpei iv t^ Terdpry twv kavrov ^i^Xitav. ^ittl yap 
aim} wdvTf /3i|3\fa (rvvreTayixiva. The title of the books was Ao^imi' 
Evpia/cui' ' E JTjyiifffis. Irenaeus himself used the expression KvptaKmv 
\oyluiii probably a reminiscence of Papias in i. 8. i. It was evidently 
from him that the tradition came that our Lord was nearly fifty years old. 



2i8 The Canon of the New Testament [ch. 

Zacharias the priest offering sacrifice to God.... Matthew 
again records His human generation, beginning, ' A book 
of the generation of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the 
Son of Abraham,' this is the gospel in human form ; but 
Mark commences with the prophetic spirit, which came 
down from on high to men, saying, ' A beginning of the 
Gospel of Jesus Christ as it is written in Isaiah the 
prophet^' thus showing forth a winged figure of the 
Gospel. Accordingly, he cast his Gospel in a condensed 
and cursory^ form, for that is the prophetical style. And 
the Word of God Himself was wont to converse in all 
His Divine glory with the patriarchs before Moses : but 
for those under the law he appointed a sacerdotal 
ministry : afterwards having become man. He sent forth 
the gift of His Holy Spirit into all the world, placing us 
under the shadow of His wings. The order followed by 
the Son of God is thus represented by the form of the 
living creatures. And the character of the Gospel corre- 
sponds therewith, for as the living creatures were four in 
form, the Gospel of the Lord has four aspects and His 
work four stages. Therefore four catholic covenants 
were given to the race of man ; the first, of Noah, being 
that of the rainbow at the flood ; the second, of Abraham, 
being that of circumcision ; the third was the giving of 
the law in the time of Moses ; and the fourth is that of 
the Gospel through our Lord Jesus Christ. They are 
therefore foolish who introduce either more or fewer 

' Irenaeus would have done well to remember his own rules about 
pauses in reading. His punctuation here is manifestly wrong. " In Isaiah 
the prophet " is read by N. B. D. L. A. edd. R. and the Syriac, A. and 
edd. A. V. "in the prophets." So Irenaeus in in. lo. 6 and in. i6. 2, 
"in prophetis," showing that there was some doubt about the passage. 
Harvey suggests that in this passage Irenaeus quoted with the Syriac 
version in his mind. 

' ■napaTfix"^'"''^ ^ cursory, l^aX. fraecurrentem, introductory. 



xii] The Gospels '219 

forms of the GospeP in order to pretend that they have 
discovered more than the truth or in the desire to set 
aside the dispensations of God." With regard to these 
remarks on the " four " Gospels, we cannot fail to see the 
influence of the mystic interpretation of numbers which 
was popular in his day. Numbers and cosmological 
speculation may have played a part in the formation of 
the Canon as in other things. For instance, in the 
Jewish work Sepher Yetsirah the substance of Creation 
was represented by the numerals, and the form by the 
twenty-two letters. In III. xi. i he says that " John, the 
disciple of the Lord, wrote his gospel to confute the 
error which was spread by Cerinthus and the Nicolaitans 
before him, who asserted that the Creator was different 
from the Father of our Lord ; that the son of the former 
was different from the upper Christ who remained im- 
passible, but who descended upon Jesus the Son of the 
Creator, and again returned to his Pleroma ; that Mono- 
genes was the beginning^, and that Logos was the son of 
Monogenes; and that this world of ours was not made by 
the principal deity but by a certain power under compul- 
sion from above which was cut off from all communication 
with the invisible world. Desiring to have such views 
refuted and to establish in the Church the 'rule of truth,' 
that there is one God Almighty Who made all things 
visible and invisible by His Word, he thus began his 
Gospel teaching*, ' In the beginning was the Word, etc' " 

' Ziegler, Ir. Bischof v. Lyon (6. 99) : " In Irenaeus we have not 
only the new religion of the Gospel, but the written Gospels, the documents 
thereof, placed beside the Old Testament, with full consciousness, as the 
independent source and document of the Christian religion and employed 
with the same form of citation as was customary with the Old Testament, 
e.g. III. 16. i, "Spiritus Sanctus per Matthaeum ait." 

* dpx^ was a distinctive name of '^ovorf^v^'i. 

* "in ea quae est secundum Evangelium doctrina," lit. in that doctrine 



2 20 The Canon of the New Testament [ch. 

Irenaeus throws a valuable light on the other books 
of the New Testament. He is the first to mention the 
Acts, which he cites as the composition of St Luke'- 
Several incidents in the travels of St Paul, some occurring 
in the " we-sections," are described in the Treatise, and 
it is asserted that St Luke, "who was present and 
carefully noted down these things (diligenter conscripsit 
et cum omni diligentia III. 15. i) cannot be accused of 
falsehood or exaggeration," and that " if any one rejects 
Luke as one who knew not the truth, it is clear that he 
also sets aside the Gospel of which he claims to be 
a disciple and which adds important facts"." He 
cites a number of the facts connected with our Lord's 
mission which are only found in this Gospel, and 
which were used by Marcion and Valentinus (quibus 
et Marcion et Valentinus utuntur). He also described 
Luke as a colleague of the Apostles, and chiefly of 
Paul I 

which is according to his Gospel, meaning that the preface of the Gospel 
was a summary of a doctrine it contained. 

' III. 13. 3, 111. 15. I, "per Lucam...testificationi ejus quam habet de 
actibus et doctrina Apostolorum, omnes sequentes." Dr Harnack in Luke 
the Physician maintains the Lukan authorship of the " we-clauses." " The 
we-sections have about them the character of a diary, and it is therefore 
probable, if not certain, that St Luke employed in them notes which he 
possessed. In these sections, however, there is no certain indication of 
later interpolation" (Acts of Apostles, Harnack Eng. Trans, p. 231). 
Cf. "If St Luke the Physician is the author of the Acts the question of 
sources is simply and speedily settled for the whole second half of the 
book" (op. cit. p. 162). In the conclusion of this work Harnack gives 
praise to St Luke as the historian of the Church, saying, " If these heroes 
(SS. Peter and Paul) had found no historian, it is highly probable that in 
spite of Marcion we should have had no New Testament ; for in the 
Catholic Church the combination of the isolated Pauline Epistles with the 
Gospel would have been an impossibility. Accordingly St Luke is really 
the creator of the Apostolic, side by side with the Evangelic tradition " 
(p. 301). Irenaeus, iii. 14. i, describes Luke, inseparabilis fuit a Paulo 
et cooperarius ejus in Evangelio...non solum prosecutor (dsAXouSos ?) sed et 
cooperarius Apostolorum maxime autem Pauli. 

^ III. 14. 3, see HI. 15. I. 

' See preceding note. 



xii] The Pauline Letters '2 2 1 



The Pauline Letters 

Dr Werner in his work Der Paulinismus des Irendus 
gives an interesting account of the use of the Pauline 
Epistles in Irenaeus, and states that Irenaeus is the 
witness of the fully commenced process of the canoniza- 
tion of these letters but not of the completion of the 
process^ Irenaeus indeed quotes a great number of 
passages taken from these Epistles. Of the 1065 
quotations from the New Testament 324 are from them, 
84 being from Romans^; 102 from i Cor.; 18 from 
2 Cor. ; 27 from Gal. ; 37 from Eph. ; 1 3 from Phil. ; 
18 from Col. ; 2 from i Thess. ; 9 from 2 Thess. ; 5 from 
I Tim. ; 5 from 2 Tim. ; 4 from Titus. Of these 
Dr Werner selects 206 as direct Pauline citations to be 
distinguished from the others which had become the 
common property of the Church. The manner in which 
these passages are cited by Irenaeus throws a light upon 
the growth of the Canon. For instance, in his citations 
of the two Epistles to the Corinthians, which are very 
numerous from the first but comparatively few from the 
second, he generally gives the author and address without 
distinction of number ; e.g. he cites with name and 
address passages from i Corinthians in IV. 38. 2, " There- 
fore Paul says to the Corinthians " ; in IV. 37. 7, " Paul, 
an Apostle, says to the Corinthians"; in III. 18. 2, 
"And again writing to the Corinthians he says"; in 
V. II. I, "as again the Apostle himself testifies, saying 
to the Corinthians." But in iv. 26. 4, " So Paul made 
his defence to the Corinthians" begins a passage from 

> p. 214. 

' But there is no citation from the fifteenth chapter. 



222 The Canon of the New Testament [ch. 

2 Corinthians ii. 17. The two letters are also confused 
in V. 13. 3 and 4. In three passages, III. 11. 9; in. 13. i; 

IV. 27. 3, he gives a citation from the first Epistle to the 
Corinthians, which he describes as " that letter which is 
to the Corinthians." He cites the letter as if there were 
but one. So Clement of Rome in I. 47 says : " Take up 
the letter of the blessed Paul," referring to i Cor. It is 
true that in I. 8. 2 and V. 7. 2, he speaks of the first 
Epistle to the Corinthians, and in III. 6. S, IV. 28. 3. 

V. 3. I and V. 13. 3, we have references to the second 
Epistle to the Corinthians. But in the last passage he 
quotes eight times from these two Epistles (four times 
from each), as if they were the same letter. It is quite 
possible that the Scriptural references in other passages 
are due to the Latin translation. This may prove that 
in the collections that lay before Irenaeus the first and 
second letters to the Corinthians were not distinguished. 
This might be an argument in favour of the view that 
2 Cor. X. — xiii. might also be an independent Epistle 
attached to 2 Cor. i. — x. On the other hand, the Greek 
and Latin mention the letters to Timotheus' which he 
quoted as the work of St Paul. The case with regard 
to I and 2 Thess. is the same. In iv. 27. 4, he cites 
2 Thess. i. 6 — 10 as if it belonged to an only letter, 
describing it as "in that letter which is to the Thessa- 
lonians." 

The same confusion is found in the citations from 
the Johannine Epistles, e.g. in III. 16. 5 he cites i John 
ii. 18, and in III. 16. 8 he refers to this, writing, "John 

' III. 3. 3, iv Tois irp6s Ti/i*69eov ^irio-ToXais, the reference being to the 
mention of Linus in 2 Tim. iv. 21. Cf. in. 14. >, ipse Paulus manifestavit 
in epistolis dicens Demas me dereliquit (2 Tim. iv. 10, 11). He quotes 
Titus iii. 10 in III. 3. 4, with intioduction "quemadmodum Paulus ait," 
in I. 16. 3, with the words, "quos Paulus jubet." He recognized the 
Pauline authorship of the Pastoral Epistles. 



xii] The Pauline Letters -223 

in the above mentioned letter," but citing 2 John 7, 8. 
And then, in the very next sentence, he goes back to 
the first Epistle as if it had been before him all the time, 
and then refers to the Gospel (i. 14) and again to the 
first Epistle (v. i). 

With regard to the form of citation, generally speak- 
ing, the Greek text of Irenaeus corresponds to the Greek 
of the New Testament. The six quotations from the 
pastoral letters show, however, a considerable divergence, 
a phenomenon which Mr Harvey explained as due to an 
acquaintance with a Syriac translation of the Greek 
original'. There are also interesting divergences between 
his citations from other Epistles and the Greek text, 
chiefly the reading Trpd^eiov' (suggested by factoruni) 
for Trapa^da-ecov", in III. 7. 2. 

These passages are quoted by Irenaeus as possessed 
of the highest authority ; e.g. in il. 22. 2, et dies nomi- 
natur et a propheta (Isaiah) et a Paulo; in IV. 32. i, 
quemadmodum et Moses ait (Gen. i. 3)...et in evangelio 
(John i. 3) legimus...et apostolus Paulus (Eph. iv. 5) 
similiter; in IV. 33. 11, Adventus Domini de quo Ipse 
ait (Lk. xviii. 8)...de quo et Paulus ait (2 Thess. i. 6) ; de. 
quibus et Ipse Dominus ait (Mt. xxv. 41)... et apostolus 
autem similiter ait (2 Thess. i. 9, 10). In these passages 
St Paul is coordinated as an authority not only with the 
Old Testament and the Gospel but also with our Lord. 
As compared with Polycarp's use of the Pauline* letters 

' In I. 16. 3 and in. 3. 4, the Greek text has the correct reading of 
Titus iii. 10, but in the latter passage the Latin through the influence of 
the Old Italic version omits " and second." So TertuUian De Praesc. 6. 

^ This is due to the influence of the Old Italic version. "Factorum" 
is read in the St Germain copy of the N.T. 

' Gal. iii. 19. 

* I Thess. in Ad Philipp. c. 4 ; 2 Thess. in c. 11; Gal. in c. 5 ; i Cor. 
in c. 11; 2 Cor. in c. 2; Rom. in t. 3; Eph. in c. 12; Phil, in u. 3 ; 
I Tim. in c. 12 ; 2 Tim. in c. 5. 



2 24 The Canon of the New Testament [ch. 

of which nine at least were employed by him, but of 
which the title and address are nowhere given ; and with 
Justin's, who does not mention either author or source, 
although he occasionally drew from them^ Irenaeus 
attaches a greater importance to these letters, just as he 
does to the New Testament in general, which seems to 
have been only the second authority with Justin, the 
Old Testament in the Greek version being more promi- 
nently used in his argument. Polycarp indeed assumes 
a knowledge of these letters, introducing a quotation of 
I Tim. vi. 7 in his letter (c. 4) ; and of Eph. ii. 8, 9, in 
c. I, with the word " knowing " (etSore?) ; and referring to 
" the wisdom of the happy and glorious Paul " and his 
letters in c. 3 bids his people study (ey/e^TTTT^Te) them 
that so they may be built up in the faith. Irenaeus 
assigns great weight to these letters, appealing to the 
very words to establish a doctrine, or to confute a heresy, 
e.g. in III. 16. 9, Rom. v. 17, regnabunt per unum Jesum 
Christum is cited against the Gnostic division of Jesus 
and Christ; in III. 18. 3 his argument for the real 
suffering of Jesus Christ is based on Rom. xiv. 15 ; 
Eph. ii. 13; Gal. iii. 13; i Cor. viii. 11, " Significans 
quoniam non Christus impassibilis descendit in Jesum, 
sed Ipse, Jesus Christus cum esset, passus est pro nobis." 
In III. 16. 9 he states that St Paul "foreseeing through 
the Spirit the schismatical attempts of evil teachers 
made the foregoing remarks." In the fourth book (41. 4) 
he promises to deal more fully with the doctrine of 
St Paul, " conscriptioni huic in sequenti post Domini ser- 
mones subjungere Pauli quoque doctrinam, et examinare 

' E.g. Cohort, ad Graecos, p. 40, used Gal. iv. ; Apol. i. 39, Dial. 253, 
^58, 338, 307 employs i Cor.; Dial. 244, Rom. iii.; Dial. 310 et 
sq. Col. 



xii] The Pauline Letters '225 

sententiam ejus, et Apostolum exponere"; and in 
the Preface to the fifth book he fulfils this promise, 
saying, "in hoc libro quinto...ex reliquis doctrinae 
Domini nostri et ex apostolieis epistolis conabimur 
ostensiones facere," treating the Pauline letters as a 
constituent part of the N.T. Canon. It is true that 
in H. 30. 7 he seems to exclude the Pauline letters 
from "the universal scriptures," writing "quoniam enim 
sunt in caelis spiritales conditiones universae clamant 
scripturae et Paulus autem testimonium perhibet." But 
in II. 28. 2 after referring to the " universae scripturae " 
he immediately quotes i Cor. xiii. 13 in proof of his 
assertion. 

Irenaeus has a curious way of combining different 
passages in his quotations from these epistles. For 
instance in iv. 37. 4 we have a blending of Eph. v. 8 and 
Rom. xiii. 13, "quasi filii lucis honeste ambulate," and 
of I Cor. vi. II to conclude with, "et haec quidera 
fuistis, sed abluti estis, sed sanctificati estis '' etc. In IV. 
12. 2 he begins with Rom. xiii. 10 and then gives an 
irregular arrangement of different verses from i Cor. xiii. 
quoted indirectly. In v. 7. 2 we have a blending of 
I Cor. XV. 42, 36 and i Cor. v. 43 ; in iv. 27. 2 one of 
Rev. xi. 21 and xi. 17; in IV. 37. 4 one of Eph. iv. 29 
and Eph. v. 4. These examples on one hand show the 
literal accuracy of the citations, and on the other the 
independent use Irenaeus made of the Pauline text. 
Mr Harvey assumes that he quoted from memory. 
That he did this at times is very probable. This would 
explain his passing from one passage to another called 
up in his mind by some similarity in expressipn. On 
the other hand, the literal agreement of such long 
passages as in V. 11. i where Gal. v. 19 — 23 and i Cor. 
H. I. 15 



2 26 The Canon of the New Testament [cH. 

vi. 9-1 1 are quoted, with the Greek text would be 
scarcely possible as a feat of memory. 

Dr Werner builds his theory that Irenaeus never 
appeals to any collection of Pauline letters as a second 
constituent of the New Testament Canon, upon the fact 
that Irenaeus does not use in his quotations from the 
Pauline letters the introductory formula '"the Scripture,' 
neither does he employ for these letters any title corre- 
sponding to ' the Gospel,' the official title of the writings 
regarding our Lord\" But the use of Scriptura {ypa<j>'^) 
and Scripturae {'ypacpaL) is too vague or loose in Irenaeus 
for the building up of any argument. For instance, the 
Gnostic writings are styled Scripturae in I. 20. i ; in 
III. 3. 3, the Epistle of the Roman Clement is styled 
Scriptura'^, and in II. 28. 7 our Lord's own teaching is 
treated as distinct from Scriptura, which there, as in 
many other places, refers to the Old Testament ; " neque 
Scriptura aliqua retulit, nee apostolus dixit, nee Dominus 
docuit," a threefold authority covered by the immediately 
preceding Scripturae. The Old Testament books are 
" divinae Scripturae^"; proofs from them are "ex Scrip- 
turis." Compare also IV. 26. i, "si quis legat Scripturas 
inveniet in iisdem de Christo sermonem," and ill. 21. 3 " ex 
his Scripturis " (LXX.) etc. But when promising to give 
proofs from the Gospels in 11. 35. 4 he describes the 
latter as Scripturae dominicae and divinae, also in 
II. 30. 6, V. 20. I etc. And yet in ill. i. i he speaks of 

' Der Paulinismus des Jrenaus, p. 41, Wahrend also die A. T. Citate 
solenn mit "Scriptura ait" eingefuhrt werden, auch solche aus Schriften 
des neuen Bundes mit diesen und ahnlichen Fortneln bei den Evangelien 
dieselben bereits durch den gleich solennen Titel Evangelium verdrangt 
sind, findet sich nicht ein einziges Paulus Citat in solenner Einfuhrungs- 
Form. Keines dieser ao6 Citate ist als " Scriptura ait," oder ahnlich 
eingeleitet. 

'^ ex ipsa scriptura ; a little above UacwTdrr)!' ypa(j>i)v (Lat. potentissimas 
literas). ' in. 19. 2. 



xii] The Pauline Letters ' 227 

those who handed down the Gospel in the Scriptures {in 
Scripturis) and says that Matthew pubHshed a Scripture 
or writing of the GospeP. In III. 19. 2 Scripturae is 
used as the equivalent oi prophetae omnes et apostoli, which 
includes the Gospels, for in III. il. 9 he distinguished 
Apostolorum"^ Evangelia from Valentinus' Veritatis 
Evangelium. He also speaks of the Gospels which come 
from the Apostles, where the apostolic writings are 
treated as equivalent to the Gospels ; and in III. i. i he 
writes of the third Gospel, " and Luke the follower of 
Paul recorded in a book the Gospel which was preached 
by the latter^" evidently regarding St Paul's Evangel 
among the Apostolorum Evangelia. And in I. 6. 3 we 
have a quotation from Gal. v. 21 ascribed to the Scrip- 
tures*. Dr Werner suggests that Irenaeus here cited 
the Pauline letters as " Scriptures " because they were 
regarded as such by the Gnostics I The converse of this 
statement is even more probable, namely that the 

' in. I. 1, ypa<pT}v BiiayyeXfou (scripturam Evangelii). 

* He does not mean that all the Gospels were written by the Apostles, 
for he points out, in. i. i, that Luke and Mark were not Apostles, but 
delivered respectively the Gospels preached by Paul and Peter. 

' Cf. Tertullian, Adv. Marc. IV. 5, "Nam et Lucae digestum Paulo 
adscribere solent." 

* de quibus Scripturae confirmant quoniam qui faciunt ea Regnum Dei 
non haereditabunt. 

' Epiphanius (Haeres. 42. 9, p. 310) says that Marcion used the 
Gospel of St Luke and ten Pauline Epistles, viz. those to the Galatians, 
Corinthians (2), Romans, Thessalonians (2), Ephesians, Colossians, 
Philemon, and Philippians, also some fragments of the letters to the 
Laodiceans. He says that Marcion removed some chapters of these letters 
and altered others. The Gnostics justified their theories by an unwritten 
tradition and the Pauline epistles. This appeal no doubt gave greater 
publicity to these writings and caused Churchmen to make a supreme 
efifort to reclaim them and to use them in refuting the positions of the 
Gnostics. In this way the Gnostics were "hoist with their own petard." 
See Epiphanius (loc. cit. ) ^f ovirep x''P'"''''W'" ''■''" """P "■^"^ <ru(oiJ.hov, roO 
re ciayyeXiou Kal tQv ^ttiittoXiSi' toO iiroffTiXov, dei^ai airbv iv Seip J^ome" 
ciiraTeiova xal ireifKavriiiAvov Kal aKpbraTa SiaKiyiai. See also Rothe, 
Vorlesungen I. 135. Werner, op. cit. p. 44. 

15—2 



228 The Canon of the New Testament [ch. 

Gnostics used the Pauline Epistles because they were 
considered authoritative with Church people. But the 
personal authority of the Apostle Paul had sufficient 
weight with Irenaeus, irrespective of the consideration in 
which he was held by the Gnostics, to warrant the 
importance attached in the treatise to his Epistles. For 
example, after citing in III. 12. 9 St Paul's words, 
Acts xiv. 15-17, he says: "We shall show from his 
Epistles that all his Epistles agree with these announce- 
ments," and he calls such proofs, proofs " ex Scripturis." 
Accordingly, we find that, if he does not refer to any 
collection of Pauline letters as standing on the same 
level with the Four Gospels, he seems to have given to 
the Pauline letters a place of importance second only to 
that of the Gospels, one of which was St Paul's own 
Gospel. The fact, therefore, that the formula " the 
Scripture saith" is not found in connection with any 
Pauline citation, but rather such forms as " as the Apostle 
says," does not weaken our contention. For Irenaeus' 
order of authority is "the Lord, the Apostles, and the 
prophets V' the Apostles, among whom was St Paul, 
ranking next to " our Lord," even if the word " scriptura " 
is more generally reserved for the Old Testament, e.g. 
III. 6. 2, "scriptura apud David," V. 21. 2, "nulla dicebat 
scriptura," etc. The Pauline Epistles were popular in 
various parts of Christendom in his day. For instance, 
the Scillitan Christians in Africa, in the year A.D. 180 
(Coss. Praesente et Claudiano), when asked what books 
they possessed, said, " Books and epistles of St Paul, 
a just man''." Irenaeus refers in III. 7. i not to the 

1 III. 17. 4, "As the Lord Himself testifies, and the Apostles confess, 
and the prophets announce," in u. 35. 3, "Apostolorum dictatio etlegisla- 
tionis ministratio " the Apostles are put before the Old Testament. 

'^ Robinson, Texts and Studies, I. 112 — 116. Libri et epistulae Pauli 



xii] The Pauline Letters ' 229 

neglect of the Pauline letters, but to the faulty elocution 
of public readers'. 

Of the fourteen Epistles all save that to Philemon 
are cited by him. Philemon is referred to by TertuUian 
{Adv. Marc. v. 21) as accepted by Marcion. Epiphanius, 
as we have seen above, expressly stated that Philemon 
was one of Marcion's ten letters. Neither is there any 
quotation from the last two chapters of the Epistle to 
the Romans. But every chapter of the Epistle to the 
Colossians is represented, chiefly the first, which touches 
the cosmical relation of the universe to Christ. Citations 
from the Pastoral Epistles, which he recognized as 
Pauline, have been given. To these may be added the 
reference, to Linus^ in III. 3. 3, and to baptism, the laver 
of regeneration', in V. 15. 3. With regard to the Epistle 
to the Hebrews, Eusebius* states that Irenaeus was the 
author of a book Containing several treatises, in which he 
mentioned the Epistle to the Hebrews and the Wisdom 
of Solomon, quoting passages from both. Photius, 
however, held that Irenaeus declared against the Pauline 
authorship"*. Origen said its style was more Hellenic, 
while the thoughts were not inferior to the acknowledged 
writings of St Paul^ The Epistle was a favourite of 



viri justi. " Libri " may stand for the Gospels. One may not argue from 
this answer that the Pauline letters were not yet fully canonical. 

' He quidem Paulum legere sciunt. 

^ 2 Tim. V. 21. ' Titus iii. 5. 

* H.E. V. 25, cf. VI. 13, where he says that Clement of Alexandria 
used certain of the AntiUgomena, the so-called Wisdom of Solomon, that 
of Jesus Son of Sirach, and the letter to the Hebrews, etc. 

' Stephanus Gobarus (on Photius cod. 232) says that Hippolytus and 
Irenaeus denied the Pauline authorship of the Epistle. See Kirchhofer, 
Geschichti des N.T. Canons p. 240 "Photius fand in Hippolytus 
Kirchtngeschichte die Angabe: ^ irpis i^ffalovs iirifTo\ii oHk iiru ro0 
difiwrAXau IlaiSXov.'* 

' Eusebius H.E. vi. 25. Origen seems to have wavejied a good deal. 
He has 200 quotations from this epistle, which are sometimes introduced 



230 The Canon of the New Testament [ch. 

Clement of Rome, and is frequently used in his own 
letter ^ There are a few allusions to this letter in the 
treatise, e.g. in II. 30. 9 we have "by the word of His 
power " Heb. i. 3 ; " faithful Moses the servant and 
minister of God," an echo of Heb. iii. 6, in III. 6. 4 ; " the 
heavenly altar" of IV. 18. 6, which seems to be a re- 
miniscence of Heb. xiii. 10 " We have an altar." The 
translation of Enoch is mentioned in V. 5. i, but this 
may not be derived from Heb. ii. 5, and the law is 
described in IV. 11. 4 as a "shadow of the things to 
come," as in Heb. x. i. It is quite possible that Irenaeus 
knew the letter well but was reluctant to use the authority 
which the Montanists had claimed for their views founded 
on Heb. vi. 4, 5. 

With regard to the Catholic Epistles, Bishop Westcott" 
hazarded the statement that "he (Irenaeus) makes no 
reference whatever to the Epistles of St James, St Jude, 
3 John, 2 Peter." But we find a reference to James ii. 23 
in IV. 16. 2, " He believed God, and it was counted unto 
him for righteousness and he was called the friend of 
God"; and in V. i. i "Nor could we have learned in 
any other way than by seeing our Teacher and hearing 
His voice, so that having become imitators of His works 
as well as doers of His words, we may have communion 
with Him, even we who were made the first-fruits of the 
creation" we have echoes of two passages of this Epistle, 
I. 18 and I. 22. In the Latin of v. 23. 2 we find the 
misquotation from 2 Peter iii. 8 : " the day of the Lord 

by the words, "Paul in the letter to the Hebrews,'' e.g. in Joh. t. 2 
{Opp. IV. 60). 

' See cc. 9, 10, 13, 17, 19, 36, 45, 56, etc. Eusebius H.E. in. 38 
judging from the similarity of style and subject-matter between the two 
letters says it is not improbable that Clement translated the letter originally 
written in Hebrew into Greek. 

' Bible in the Church, p. 123. 



xii] The Pauline Letters ,231 

is as a thousand years," which is found in v. 28. 3 in the 
Greeli — " the day of the Lord is as a thousand years " ; 
the Greek of the New Testament being " one day with 
the Lord is as a thousand years \" 

The passages from i Peter in this treatise are chiefly 
interesting as aheady showing variations in the text of 
Irenaeus. This of course may be the result of quotations 
from memory or the caprice of the Latin translator. 
I Peter i. 1 2 : " which things angels desire to look into," 
is quoted in the two different ways, " into which (in quae) 
angels desire to look^," and "whom {quern) angels desire 
to see'." Feuardent and Erasmus, following the Clermont 
MS., read in quern in the first of these passages, Massuet 
and Harvey "in quae'' Quern may point to another Greek 
reading. Again, i Peter i. 8 " Whom not having seen 
ye love, in Whom, though now ye see Him not, yet 
believing, ye rejoice greatly with joy unspeakable," is 
presented in a double form. Compare the form in 
IV. 9. 2 with that found in V. 7. 2. Three passages from 
this Epistle are translated literally, i.e. i Peter ii. 16, 
ii. 22, and 23. There is, indeed, no reference to 3 John, 
but the letter from the Presbyter to the Elect Kyria is 
expressly cited as the work of the beloved disciple in 
III. 16. 8. His version of 2 John 7 and 8 contains 
interesting variations : " They went forth," instead of 
" are entered " ; "ye lose what ye have wrought," instead 
of " we lose what we have wrought^" which is the reading 
of the Authorized, as the former is that of the Revised 
Version. In his citation of i John iv. 1,2, 3, in III. 16. 8, 

' T) yap ri/iipa KvpLov (Irenaeus), /*(a riinipa iraph Kvplif (Peter). 

' n. 17. 9. ' V. 36. 3. 

' exierunt: i^XBov so K, A, B, edd. R., WH., Vg. : A.V. elarjKeov ; 
perdatis quod operati estis N, A, R., and Vg. : A.V. aTroX^trujuei'. The 
second epistle is not in the Syriac. The reference is to III. i6. 8. 



232 The Canon of the New Testament [ch. 

preserved only in the Latin, his text exhibits interest' 
ing variations, e.g. " qui solvit Jesum," he who annulleth 
Jesus, instead of "he who confesseth not Jesus'." 
Tertullian has the expression "solventes Jesum," annul- 
ling Jesus, in Contra Marc. c. 16. But Polycarp in 
his letter to the Philippians cites the passage as we have 
it. Finally, Irenaeus writes in a Greek passage cited by 
Epiphanius, l. 16. 3 : " For John, the disciple of the Lord, 
increased their condemnation, desiring us not even to 
bid them ' God speed,' for he who bids them ' God speed ' 
is partaker of their evil deeds'*." 

In one of the fragments attributed to Irenaeus by 
Pfaff we have in the expression " faith delivered unto the 
saints " a reminiscence of the third verse of the Epistle of 
Jude. This fragment, however, appears to be spurious. 
And in IV. 36. 4, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrha 
is described as an " example of the righteous judgement 
of God," a blending of Jude 7 and 2 Thess. i. 5. 

A valuable testimony to the Revelation of St John is 
found in this treatise, where several passages are cited 
from the Apocalypse of John, " Domini discipulus," e.g. 
V. 35. 2 and V. 26. i. He has an interesting discussion 
on the number of the Beast in V. 30. 2, for which he 
suggests Euanthas, Lateinos and Teitan as solutions'. 

' Annulleth : Xiiei for jiT] bji.o\oyii, confesseth not. The former has the 
support of many Fathers, Vg., R. marg., WH. marg. S has In addition 
XpiirT-oK tv ffapxl i\iii\v66ta. So Polycarp £p. to Phil. 7 ; omitted by 
A. B. edd. R. Socrates E. H. 7. 32 says, " in the first catholic epistle of 
John it was written ' Every Spirit that separates (Xi5ei) Jesus is not of God.' 
The mutilation of this passage is attributable to those who desired to 
separate the Divine nature from the human economy." 

* 1 John ii. 

' In Greek notation. In v. 30. i he says that 666 is the reading of 
Rev. xiii. 18 in all the ancient and genuine MSS. but that some wrongly 
havfe 616 without authority, oVving to some mistake, Caused perhaps by 
tfeading 1 for f, viz. x'^' fo"^ X^ • C alone among MSS. now knowti has 
616, which may be the right reading. Irenaeus was impressed by the fact 



xii] The Pauline Letters ^33 

With regard to the date of the Apocalypse he says that 
" it (or he) was not seen so long ago, but in our generation, 
toward the end of the reign of Domitian." Professor 
Swete, in Apocalypse, p. 95, quotes this as the earliest of 
authorities to prove that "early Christian tradition is 
practically unanimous in assigning the Apocalypse to 
the last years of Domitian." The Bishop of Ely^ has, 
however, pointed out that Dr Hort suggested to him 
that John himself, and not the Apocalypse, is the subject 
of ecopdOt) (was seen). Irenaeus employed the same verb 
opav of his own personal knowledge of Polycarpl The 
Latin translation, " qui et Apocalypsim viderat. Neque 
enim ante multum temporis visum est'," supports this 
view, for " visum est " is most probably a corruption of 
*' visus est," and cannot agree with " Apocalypsis." But 
on the other hand, a strained meaning is given to " visum 
est*." This would imply the earlier date, the Neronian, 
for the Apocalypse, which is advocated by Lightfoot, 
Westcott and Hort. Canon Sanday, however, supported 
the later date"- Irenaeus may have brought his venera- 
tion for the Apocalypse to the West, for we find it 
treated as " sacred Scripture " by the Churches of Lyons 
and Vienne. Dionysius of Alexandria, the pupil of 
Origen, in a masterly criticism, which elicited the admir- 
ation df Bishop Westcott, was the first to point out the 
difference of character (ij^o?), language and ideas between 

that in 666 there are the same number of hundreds, decades and utiits. 
However, Nero Kaisar makes 6i6, and Neron Kaisar 666 (in Hebrew 
notation). 

' Journal of Theological Studies, 1907. 

^ III, 3. 4, ov KoX 'ijfieis ^<ap6.Kafi€v ev t^ irpthrrj iju-uv ijKiKiq.. 

" V. 30. 3. 

* The passage v, 35. a, "John saw it (Jerusalem) descending in the 
Apocalypse," is also s^;ajnst John being the subject of msum est. 

' In his later preface to Dr Hort's Afocdlypse he is inclined, however, 
to recede from this position. 



2 34 The Canon of the New Testament [ch, 

the Apocalypse and the Gospel, and to suggest a differ- 
ence of authorship'. 

We have seen that Irenaeus was familiar with all the 
books of the New Testament save two. Many of his 
readings, which may have come into his text through 
the influence of the old Latin versions, however, do not 
agree with the readings of our principal MSS. and form, 
therefore, an interesting but a special study in themselves. 
His exposure of the extreme biblical critics of his day 
makes his work very valuable in the present time. 

Gnostic Canons and Exegesis 

Irenaeus' remarks on the Gnostic canons and exegesis 
of Scripture are also invaluable in view of the work which 
is assigned to them in the formation of the Christian 
canon by Dr Harnack'. It is evident that the Gnostics 
attempted to establish their positions by scriptural proofs, 
and deliberately altered the Gospels and Epistles to suit 
their purposes. We learn from Tertullian' that it was 
a truncated gospel of St Luke that Marcion used. We 
have already referred to his employment of the Pauline 
Epistles. It is quite possible that he published the text 
of his Evangelium and Apostolicum about the year 1 50 A.D. 
Tertullian appears to have had both before him*. In 

• Eusebius H.E. VII. 25. 

^ Dogmengeschichte I. 187, where he says that it is difficult to decide 
whether Basilides, Valentinus or Marcion first grasped the idea of a 
Christian Canon, but that many things point to Marcion. He also says 
of the Gnostics, "So sind die die ersten Christlichen Theologen" (ibid. 
s. 188). 

^ de came Christie c. 1. 

* Adv. Marc. IV. i, "Ad ipsum jam Evangelium ejus provocamus, 
quod interpolando suum fecit." Ibid. III. 17, "ipsum Marcionis evangelium 
discuti placet." Ibid. IV. 4, "si negaverint Marcionitae primam apud nos 
fidem ejus adversus epistolam ipsius. 



xii] Gnostic Canons and Exegesis 2^5 

I. 27. 2 Irenaeus fully described Marcion's treatment of 
the Scriptures which finds a modern parallel in certain of 
the biblical articles in the Encyclopaedia Biblica. There 
he says : " Marcion mutilated the Gospel according to 
Luke, removing all the passages that referred to the 
virgin birth of our Lord, and much of His teaching in 
which it is written that He called the Maker of this 
universe His Father. He also persuaded his disciples 
that he was more veracious than the apostles who handed 
down the Gospel, not giving them the Gospel but a 
portion of the Gospel. In like fashion, he cut down the 
letters of the Apostle Paul, removing all that that 
apostle had said about the God Who made the world 
being the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and also the 
passages foretelling the advent of our Lord which that 
apostle had quoted from the prophets." In a remarkable 
passage^ he gives the following r^sum^ of the work of 
the advanced critics of the second century. " Marcion 
rejected the Gospel in its entirety ; indeed, he cut 
himself altogether adrift from the Gospel, and yet he 
boasts that he has a share in the Gospel^- Others', in 
order to set at naught the gift of the Spirit, which was 
poured out in recent times upon the human race, do 
not accept the form of the Gospel which is according 
to John, in which the Lord promised the advent of the 
Paraclete, but equally reject the Gospel and the Spirit of 
prophecy." 

Irenaeus added that "they (the Montanists) also 

^ III. II. 9, cf. the similar charge of Tertullian in De Came Christi, 
and in De Praescriptionibus . 

' partem Evangelii. Massuet reads pariter, which has not as good 
authority, as Marcion boasted that he had the whole Gospel, when he had 
only a part, but Evangelium here refers to Gospel blessings. . 

' The Montanists. 



236 The Canon of the New Testament [ch. 

repudiate the Apostle Paul^ because in his Epistle to the 
Corinthians he refers to prophetic gifts." But the 
Valentinians differ from others, stating boldly that they 
have more gospel than ours, " and have reached such a 
pitch of irreverence that they style their newly discovered 
Gospel the evangel of truth, although it has nothing in 
common with the Gospels of the Apostles, so that not 
even is the Gospel among them free from blasphemy." 
We might compare with these assumptions of the 
Gnostic schools of criticism some of the positions that 
are adopted in the modern work referred to. One writer 
(Schmidt of Zurich) reduces the Gospel narrative to 
a collection of unauthenticated stories, strung together 
in the interests of a religious idea, and leaves the student 
a few " authentic " sayings of Jesus. Another (Professor 
W. van Manen) denies the Pauline authorship of any of 
the Epistles attributed to St Paul. 

Such treatment of Holy Writ is the same in principle 
and practice as that of Marcion and his school, " who set 
about the work of revising the Scriptures, and refusing 
absolutely to acknowledge some books and striking out 
portions of the Gospel of Luke and the Pauline Epistles, 
declared that what they had thus curtailed was alone 
authentic, Megitima^'." The Gnostics also displayed their 
critical caprice in using " a number of apocryphal and 
spurious writings which they have themselves composed 
with a view to confound the foolish and those who know 
not the elements of the truths" But Irenaeus, employing 
the argument ad hominem, answers them out of the 



' Clement of Alexandria {Str. in. 441 etc.) also complains of the 
misuse and mutilation of the Scriptures by the heretics^ 
2 III. 11!. \^. 
' I. ^a. r, t4 T^sdXT/Setes ypiiiiuira in sense of "knowing one's letters.'' 



xii] Gnostic Canons and Exegesis 2^7 

portions they accept. " This foundation of the Gospels," 
he says, " is so sure, that even the heretics bear witness 
to them, and starting from them, each one attempts to 
establish his own views. For the Ebionites, who only 
use the Gospel according to Matthew, are proved from 
the same not to teach the true doctrine of our Lord. 
But Marcion, mutilating the Gospel according to Luke, 
is proved to be a blasphemer against the only true God' 
by the passages he retains. While if they who separate 
Jesus from Christ, and hold that Christ continued 
impassible while Jesus suffered, would only read the 
evangel of Mark which they prefer, they would, if they 
really desire to know the truth, be corrected by it. The 
school of Valentinus, which makes abundant use of the 
Gospel according to John, will also be proved by that 
Gospel to be altogether in the wrongs" 

The Gnostics also followed a method of criticism 
which has again come into use and which consists in 
finding facts to suit certain presuppositions rather than 
that of building theories upon the data. As Irenaeus 
says : " They endeavour to adapt the parables of our 
Lord, the sayings of the prophets and the words of the 
Apostles to their own peculiar theories, in order that 
their scheme may have support. In this matter they 
disregard the order and connection of the Scriptures and 
dismember the truth as far as they can. By inserting 
passages in a wrong context, and giving them a different 
form and changing one thing into another, they deceive 
many, cunningly making the oracles of the Z(?rdf correspond 
with their own absurd theories". 

The Gnostics also held peculiar views of Apostolic 

1 in. II. 7. ^ I. 8. 1. 



238 The Canon of the New Testament [cH. 

exegesis and inspiration, declaring that the Apostles 
accommodated their doctrine to the capacity of their 
hearers, and that the sources of prophetical inspiration 
were many and various. "They, who are the most 
worthless of all Sophists, say that the Apostles accommo- 
dated their doctrine to the capacity of their hearers, and 
made their answers agree with the opinions of their 
questioners, speaking blind words with the blind, answer- 
ing the languid after their languor and fools after their 
folly, announcing the Demiurge or Creator as the only 
God to those who so thought, but for those who hold 
that the Father is not to be named, devising an ineffable 
mystery in parables and enigmas', so that they, the 
Apostles, did not exercise the functions of their teaching 
office in truth, but compromised it in every case." " And 
the others, who are falsely called Gnostics, who maintain 
that the prophets uttered their prophecies under the 
inspiration of different Gods, are easily silenced by the 
fact that all the prophets announce one God and one 
Lord, even the Maker of heaven and earth'." Again he 
writes in IV. 35. i, "The school of Valentinus and the 
other Gnostics declare that certain passages of Scripture 
were spoken from the highest place ; that others were 
delivered from the intermediate place, while many portions 
proceeded from the Creator of the world by Whom the 
prophets were sent. But we say it is very absurd to 
reduce the Universal Father to such a state of need that 
He should have no agencies of His own through whom 
the matters relating to His Pleroma might be correctly 
known." 

Irenaeus also protests against the esoteric doctrine 
and reserved manner of the Gnostics, which were so 
1 HI. 5. 1. 2 n. 35. 3. 



xii] Gnostic Canons and Exegesis 339 

different from those of the Apostles. " Whereas the 
Gnostics privately unfold to those they have perverted 
the ineffable mystery of the Pleroma' " ; and " lay claim 
to greater knowledge concerning everything than others, 
reading from unauthorized documents" (e'f ar/pa.<f>a>v 
dvayiva)<TKovT6<} I. 8. i), "the doctrine of the Apostles 
is open and fixed, naught is reserved from the pupils, 
but everything is public''." " For the Apostles without 
reservation or distinction of persons delivered to all what 
they had been taught of God I" On the other hand, the 
Gnostics are plausible, as well as exclusive, and " when 
a man has been won over to their views of salvation, he 
straightway becomes so full of conceit and importance 
that he imagines he is no longer in heaven or earth, but 
that he has already passed into the Pleroma, and struts 
about proudly and loftily with a coxcomb air, as if he 
had already embraced his angel*." 

In the Preface to the first book and in IV. 35. 3^ he 
also refers to the air of profound wisdom with which 
they mystified their adherents and concealed their own 



1 in. 15. 2. ■' III. 15. I. •■ III. 14. 2. 

* III. 15. 2, cum institorio et supercilio incedit gallinacei elationem 
habens (cf. Demosthenes, contra Ccmonem § 9 jSe yap roin aXcKTpvSpas 
fiifioij/jievoi Toil's vevtKTfKdTas). 

^ et uno eodemque sermone lecto, universi obductis superciliis agitantes 
capita, valde quidem altissime se habere sermonem dicunt, non autem omnes 
capere magnitudinem ejus intellectus, qui ibidem continetur, cf. i Praef. 
tA TeparJidri ko! pa84a /ivarripM a 06 ndvTes xupoOo'ii' ^Trei firi wavTes riv 
iyKctpaXov i^ewTiKaaiv . This is ironical, cf. TertuUian, C. Vol. i., "Si bona 
fide quaeras, concreto vultu, suspense supercilio, ' Altum est ' aiunt." Cf. 
Merchant of Venice i. i. 88 et sq. 

There are <i sort of men whose visages 

Do cream and mantle like a standing pond, 

And do ■- wilful stillness entertain 

With purpose to be dress'd in an opinion 

Of wisdom, gravity, profound conceit. 

As who should say, " I am Sir Oracle, 

And when I ope my lips let no dog bark ! " 



340 The Canon of the New Testament [cH. xii 

ignorance, saying when asked a question, " It is too deep 
for ordinary brains." The cryptic and mysterious allusions 
to a deeper teaching and a hidden knowledge, which are 
so alluring to students of oriental theosophy in our day, 
are, accordingly, but part of the ancient scheme of 
Gnosticism, invented to secure adherents of the best type 
by attracting seekers after truth. 



CHAPTER XIII 

NOTES OF THE CHURCH 

At the outset it is necessary to protest against the 
reading of Early Church history through the spectacles 
of German criticism. It is unjust to charge the Post- 
Nicene Church, which did so much to preserve the 
Scriptures, with suppressing the genuine writings of the 
sub-apostolic age with the exception of those of Ignatius 
and the pseudo-Dionysius, because they were not in 
accordance with her change of views. She cannot be 
proved to be guilty of the desire to place the Syntagma 
of Justin, the works of Hegesippus, Hippolytus, Rhodon, 
Melito, and a host of other Church writers which have 
perished, and her own Church Orders, on an Index 
Expurgatorius. It cannot have been her wish either 
that the Greek of Irenaeus should have been lost. The 
scantiness of Early Church literature is not due to the 
hostility of the Church, but to the conditions of an age 
unfavourable to the composition and preservation of 
writings'. 

In the history of the Church, as in the history of 
every institution, the critical follows the creative stage. 
Things exist before theories. The establishment precedes 
the discussion of its raison d'itre. So it was with the 

' If the writings of Porphyry and other Neo-platonic enemies of 
Christianity were destroyed by an order of Theodosius how many 
Christian writings were destroyed previously by pagan Emperors? 

H. I. i6 



242 Notes of the Church [cH. 

Church. She was there before men thought of con- 
sidering her claims. And her book, the New Testament, 
was there before men attempted to reduce its doctrines 
to system. Opposition without and sedition within 
compelled Churchmen to concentrate their attention 
upon their faith, to take heed to their lines of defence, 
to " walk about Zion and go round about her, to tell the 
towers thereof and mark well her bulwarks." 

Such was the phase of Church life in the days of 
Irenaeus, which by no stress of imagination can be 
described as a " revolution S" but was rather a transition 
from the sub-conscious or subliminal state to the fully 
self-conscious existence of organized life. The Church 
was now awakening to her position and privileges as 
well as to her Divine charter, character and faith. 

In one sense the Church was old, in another new. 
As " the seed of Abraham " it was for Irenaeus the 
continuation of the Jewish Church, having obtained the 
inheritance and adoption promised to Abraham" ; it is 
also "the great and honourable body of Christ'." In 
IV. 33. 8, he describes the " ancient constitution of the 
Church universal," and "the character of the body of 
Christ maintained by successions of the bishops*, to 
whom they (the Apostles) entrusted the Church which 
is in each place, and which has come down to us with 
its safeguard of the Scriptures in the fulness and sound- 
ness of their interpretation^" Here he maintains the 

' Harnack, History of Dogma, Eng. Trans. 11. 77. 

' IV. 8. I ; V. 34. I, semen ejus quod est ecclesia. 

8 IV. 33. 7, t4 ii,t-^a. KoX (vSo^op aHixa roO Xpio-ToC, cf. St Paul, 
Eph. iv. 12. 

* " successiones episcoporum" but " successiones presbyterorum,'' 
III. 3. 2; "successiones episcoporum," III. 3. i ; he also speaks of the 
" presbyters before Anicetus." 

" custodita sine fictione scripturarum tractatione plenissima. 



xiii] Notes of the Church 243 

historic episcopate on one hand, and sound Bible teaching 
on the other, as the preservatives of the unity and 
continuity of the Church. The Church is founded on 
the Scriptures which it maintains. " The Gospel is the 
pillar and foundation of the faith'," and " the pillar and 
foundation of the Church are the Gospel and the Spirit of 
lifeV The Churches are the guardians of the apostolic 
tradition' " The Church is the depository of the truths" in 
which we have " the communication of Christ, that is, the 
Holy Spirits" " Seeing that we have such proofs," he 
says, " it is not necessary to seek among others for that 
truth which is in the Church. For the Apostles trusted 
her most fully with all that pertains to the truth, just as 
a rich man deposits his money in a bank, so that every 
one may draw from her the water of life. For she is 
the entrance to life'." 

He rings the changes on the unity of the Church's 
faith. "Thepreachingof the Church is true and constant. 
For she proclaims everywhere one and the same way of 
salvation. She has in trust the light of God, and so the 
" wisdom " of God by which she saves all men is declared 
in her going forth. For the Church trumpets forth the 
truth in every direction, and is the lamp with the seven 
burners that carries the light of Christ'." " Nor will 
any of the elders of the Church, no matter how eloquent, 
preach other doctrines than thesel" In III. 24. i, he 
insists on the continuity of the Spirit's work in the 
Church as the secret of her unity. "It has been shown," 
he says, "that the teaching of the Church is everywhere' 

' III. 1. I. * III. II. 8. ' III. 2. L. * III. 4. I. 

' III. 24. I. ° III. 4. I. ' V. 20. I. 

' I. 10. 2, irpoeaTilnrnf. Cf. Justin Martyr, 6 irpoeaTdis the officiating or 
presiding elder. Apology b^.i. 

' Clerm. reads "utique," for "ubique"? Cf. the Vincentian canon, 
quod semper, quod ubique, quod ab omnibus. 

1 6 — 2 



244 Notes of the Church [ch. 

uniform and abiding, and is supported by the testimony 
of the prophets, Apostles and all the disciples, as we 
have proved, from the beginning, through the middle 
unto the end, right through the whole course of the 
dispensation of God and the ordered plan of salvation 
which is expressed in our faith, which has been received 
from the Church, which is maintained by us, and which 
is renewed by the Spirit of God, just as a beautiful plant 
when beginning to flower throws the bloom of its youth 
over the very pot in which it grows'." "The gift of 
God," he continues, "has been entrusted to the Church, 
as breath was given to man, to this end that all members 
receiving it might have life, and in her has been deposited 
the means of communion with Christ, that is, the Holy 
Spirit, the pledge of incorruption, the assurance of our 
faith and the 'altar-stairs that slope to God".'" "For 
in the Church, he saith, God hath set apostles, prophets 
and teachers and all the other channels through which 
the Spirit works, whereof they do not partake who have 
left the Church. For where the Church is there is the 
Spirit of God, and where the Spirit of God is there is 
the Church and every form of grace, for the Spirit is 
truths" 

The Church is apostolic, and the continuity of its 
apostolic descent is also the safeguard of the apostolic 
faith. " Suppose," he says, " a dispute arose over some 
small point, should we not be obliged to refer the matter 
to the most ancient churches with which the Apostles 
held intercourse, and thus find out what is clear and 

' quasi in vase bono eximium quoddam depositum juvenescens et 
juvenescere faciens ipsum vas in quo est. depositum = 7rapn(coTafli)K7;, 
deposit, 1 Tim. i. 14. 

2 scala ascensionis ad Deum. 

' III. 24. r, I Cor. xii. 28. 



xiii] Notes of the Church "245 

certain from them^?" "For all these (Gnostics) made 
their appearance long after the bishops to whom the 
Apostles entrusted the churches^" " Wherefore it is 
right to obey the presbyters who are in the Church, who. 
as I have shown, have the succession from the Apostles, 
who together with the succession to the episcopate 
possess the charisma of truth'," and " to whom the 
Apostles committed their own position in the govern- 
ment of the Church*." With these passages compare 
Tertullian, De Praes. 16 — 21, who is equally firm on the 
continuity of the Church and the apostolicity of her 
orders and her faith. This continuity of orders is 
a safeguard both for the unity of the Church and the 
correctness of her belief in the eyes of Irenaeus. See 
III. 12. 7, where he asserts that "the Church which is 
throughout the whole world, and has its firm origin 
from the Apostles, maintains one and the same opinion 
with regard to God and His Son," whereas the heretics 
hold many conflicting views. And in v. 20. i, contrasting 
the many paths of the heretics with the one path of the 
Church, he thus indicates the six points of union in the 
ancient Church : (i) All have received one and the same 
God the Father, and (2) believe in one and the same 
economy of the Incarnation of the Son of God and (3) 
are conscious of the same gift of the Spirit, (4) practise 
the same precepts, (5) teach the same scheme of salvation 
in all the world, and (6) maintain the same form of 
ecclesiastical system ^ 

One in descent and doctrine, the Church is also one 
in hope and love. For all who belong to her look 

1 III. 4. I. ' V. 20. I. ' IV. 26. I. 

' suum ipsorum locum magisterii, III. 3. i. 

° Eandem figuram quae est erga ecclesiam ordinationis. Grabe sees 
reference to ordination. 



246 Notes of the Church [ch. 

forward to the same advent of our Lord and await the 
same salvation of soul and body'. And the Church has 
one supreme gift, that " love which is more precious 
than knowledge, more illustrious than prophecy, and 
more excellent than all other gifts I" " Among the 
heretics exist error and foolish conjuring {magica phan- 
tasid) before the eyes of men, but in the Church mercy 
and pity, steadfastness and truth, for the help of man 
without fee or favour, we ourselves spending and being 
spent in the service of others^" 

Another note of the Church is Catholicity. He 
describes four catholic covenants in in. 11. 8, the first 
under Adam, the second under Noah, the third under 
Moses, and the fourth that of the Gospel, through our 
Lord Jesus Christ. In iv. 36. 2, he says : " The glorious 
Church is everywhere, and everywhere the winepress is 
digged, because they who receive the Spirit are every- 
where." All classes are admitted to the mysteries of 
the Church. " The doctrine of the Apostles is open and 
constant, naught is reserved, nor is one set of doctrines 
preached in public and another held in secret*." He 
relates how the School of Valentinus in their addresses 
to the crowd introduced certain remarks for the benefit 
of those they called " ordinary church people " {communes 
ecclesiasticos), saying that their doctrine is the same as 
ours and that we have no reason to abstain from their 
communion ^ 

Another note is sanctity or personal holiness. This 
is indispensable in a presbyter. While urging us to 

' V. 20. I. ^ IV. 33. 8. ' II. 31. 3. * III. 15. I. 

^ III. 15. -i, "communes" may represent (caSoXiitoiJs, the Latin word 
not yet having come into use. Harvey suggests that the name of Catholic 
may have been applied first to the Church of Christ by the Gnostics in 
contempt. 



xiii] Notes of the Church »47 

avoid the arrogant ones, he advises us to "adhere to 
those presbyters who maintain the apostolic doctrine, 
have the order of priesthood (cum presbyterii ordine), 
are blameless in speech and manner of life, and are a 
good example to others I" Such presbyters the Church 
nourishes. To such the prophet refers when he says, 
" I will give thy rulers in peace and thy bishops in 
righteousness." In IV, 26. 5, he .sums up the notes of 
the Church and her teaching. " Where the gifts of the 
Lord have been deposited there we must learn the truth. 
There too is the apostolic succession of the Church, and 
there too is sincerity and integrity of life, purity and 
incorruptibility of speech. For they guard their own 
faith in one God Who made all things, they foster that 
love we have for the Son of God, Who appointed 
such dispensations for our sake, and they expound the 
Scriptures without hurt to our souls, without blasphemy 
toward God, and without dishonour to either patriarchs 
or prophets." He enjoins obedience to such^ 

In IV. 33. 9, he describes the testimony of the 
Church, which she sealed with her blood, in words that 
recall Tertullian's saying, " The blood of the martyrs is the 
seed of the Church." " Wherefore the Church, because 
of her love of God, sends forth a great army of martyrs 
to the Father in every age. The heretics, on the other 
hand, who can show nothing like this, go so far as to 
say that such testimony is unnecessary ; for, as they 
affirm, their tenets are their true witness." 

His cold pen seems to glow with indignation when 
he writes of those who break up the unity of the Church. 



' IV. j6. 4. 

2 IV. •26. I, eis qui in ecclesia sunt presbyteris obaudire oportet. 



248 Notes of the Church [ch. 

See IV. 26. 2, and iv. 33. 7\ He declares that the 
destruction that schism works is incalculable and in- 
curable. As for those who have made it, " they wallow 
in every error, frequently changing their opinions because 
they have not been founded upon the one rock, but on 
the sand that has many pebbles I" See also V. 20. 2, 
"varie et multiformiter et imbecille facientes iter." In 
III. II. 9, summing up his case against them, he declares 
that they have committed the unpardonable sin. " The 
heretics bring strange fire, that is, strange doctrine, to 
the altar of^God, and shall be consumed by fire, as 
Nadab and Abiud were. They who rise against the 
truth and put others against the Church of God are to 
be swallowed up like Dathan and Abiram, and they 
who cleave asunder the unity of the Church shall be 
punished as Jeroboam (iv. 26. i)." He thus distinguishes 
between heretics and schismatics. These words were 
written by one who had not only a great affection for 
his own people, many of whom had been led astray by 
false and unauthorized teachers, but also a great love for 
the truth which was contained in the Scriptures that 
were in the custody of the Church. Therefore he says, 
" to avoid their tenets and escape their evil influence we 
must take refuge in the Church, be educated in her 
bosom, and be nourished upon the Scriptures of the 
Lord" (v. 20. i). 

' IV. 26. i, qui scindunt et separant unitatem ecclesiae eandem quam 
Hieroboam poenam percipiunt a Deo; IV. 33. 7, qui schismata operantur, 
qui sunt inanes, non habentes Dei dilectionem, suamque utilitatem potius 
considerantes quam unitatem ecclesiae ; et propter modicas et quaslibet 
causas magnum et gloriosum corpus Christi conscindunt et dividunt, et 
quantum in ipsis est, interficiunt ; pacem loquentes et bellum operantes : 
vere liquantes culicem et camelum transglutientes. How very true is all 
this in the history of schism and sectarian jealousy ! 

''■ HI. 24. i. 



xiii] Notes of the Church ' 249 

Harsh as this language seems to us, it has often 
been exceeded in the wars of controversy, religious and 
political, and against it is to be set the eulogy on charity, 
the praecipuum dilectionis munus'. Penned not in malice 
but in zeal for what he believed to be the truth, it is not 
to be imitated by those who have been taught not to 
love their Church less but Christ more. Neither should 
the '' odium theologicum " which, indeed, is not peculiar 
to theology but is common to all studies, deter men 
from the study of these controversies in the Early 
Church or cause them to deviate from the ordinary laws 
of evidence and common-sense in that study. 



^ IV. 33. 8, quod est pretiosius quam agnitio, gloriosius autem quam 
prophetia, omnibus autem reliquis charismatibus supereminens. 



CHAPTER XIV 

THE MINISTRY 
Continuity and Orders 

The unbroken line of bishops in the Church, Irenaeus 
repeatedly says, is the test and safeguard of apostolic 
doctrine. Apostolic descent is the guarantee of the uni- 
formity of belief It is more reasonable that the truth 
should be found among those who can trace back their 
ministerial descent and doctrine to the Apostles than 
among a new and irregularly formed sect, who set aside 
the very Scriptures and tradition of the Apostles, boasting 
that they are correctors of the Apostles'. They are not 
ashamed to preach their own Gospel, corrupting the 
rule of truth, and declare that the Scriptures are " of no 
authority," when against their views ^ The heretics have 
appealed to tradition, answers Irenaeus ; then let them 
be judged by " that tradition which has its origin from 
the Apostles and has been preserved by a regular 
succession of presbyters in the Churches." But when 
so challenged, "they declare they are wiser than the 
presbyters, and even than the Apostles'," an interesting 



1 III. I. 1. 

* III. 2. I, semetipsum praedicare non confunditur, lit. to preach 
himself. 

^ III. 2. 2. 



CH. xiv] Continuity and Orders '251 

instance of the authority of private judgement in those 
days. 

The historic continuity of Church tradition, on the 
other hand, has been safeguarded through the ages by 
an unbroken Hne of presbyters. This argument has 
only weight in our time with those who appreciate the 
claims of antiquity and believe that water is purest when 
nearest its source. But in those days it was an effective 
argument. There was a tremendous force in the challenge 
of TertuUian : — '' Let them show a list of bishops, pro- 
ceeding in succession from the beginning in such a way 
that their first bishop had as his authority and predecessor 
some one of the Apostles or of the apostolic men, who 
were associated with the Apostles V' and in the statement 
of Irenaeus : " All these (heretics) are of far more recent 
date than the bishops to whom the Apostles entrusted 
the Churches"." 

With regard to this unbroken line of presbyters or 
bishops — for Irenaeus regards all bishops as presbyters, 
though he does not treat all presbyters as bishops — 
he declares that " we can enumerate those who were 
appointed by the Apostles to be bishops in the Churches 
and their successions down to our own times'." As it 
would be tedious in a work of such size to enumerate 
the successions in all the Churches, he deems it sufficient 
to point out the " apostolic tradition and faith of the 
very great and very ancient and well known Church 
founded and established at Rome by the two most 
glorious Apostles, Peter and Paul, which has been 
brought down to us by the successions of the bishops," 
By this means he hoped to put to silence all " who for 

' De Praescript. 32. * v. 20. i. 

' in. 3. I. Clerm. and Ar. MSS. read successiones for stucessores. 



2 52 The Ministry [ch. 

one reason or another, vanity, self-will or blindness, 
held unauthorized meetings." He then proceeds to speak 
of the potentior principalitas of that Church. What- 
ever this means, it cannot mean sovereign authority' 
{avdevTia). Irenaeus himself lectured Victor, and he 
recognized as mother city of the Church not Rome 
but Jerusalem^ Neither did Polycarp yield one inch 
to Anicetus, who treated him as an equal. The Church 
of Rome had, indeed, an excellent name in the second 
century. Her prestige lay not, however, in her bishop 
or his authority, but in her own orthodoxy and apostolic 
seat. By reason of her association with imperial Rome, 
her connection with the Apostles, her freedom from 
heresy, her liberality, organization and wealth, the Church 
of the " Eternal City " enjoyed considerable influence in 
those days. Ignatius describes her as "president in 
love," and Clement as "president of truth." Foremost 
in every good work, she was naturally the premier 
Church in those days before she fell into error, and 
therefore the most influential. But as Rome had not 
yet attempted to exercise any control over other Churches 
with success, principalitas can hardly be rendered by 
any term stronger than prestige or dignity. All the 
communities founded by the Apostles, the principes, 
(Ps. 67. 26 Vg.) had a certain principalitas or leading 
position', while Rome in virtue of other things enjoyed 
a potentior principalitas which is not equivalent to the 
Greek ap')(y) jurisdiction, but rather to irpioreiov, which 

1 PaceDr Hamack, I.e. 157, who appeals to TertuUian, Adv. Valent. 4, 
ab ecclesia authenticae regulae abrupit, and Victor's remark, origo authentici 
apostolatus. 

' HI. 12. 5. oSrai <\iiijvaX t^s fi,riTpoTr6\eus (i.e. Jerusalem) t&v rijs 
KaiiiTJi SmO-iiKTii iro\iTuv ; the reference being to Acts iv. 24 — 28. 

' Cf. Benson's Cyprian, p. 527 et sq. 



xiv] Continuity and Orders '253 

occurs in 3 John 9, " Diotrephes who loveth to have 
Uns pre-eminence" (<f)i\oTrpcoTev(ovy. The other difficulty 
in the passage is the meaning of "convenire." The 
text is : " For with (ad) this Church, which holds a 
leading position among the Churches, it is right that 
every Church, that is, the orthodox who are everywhere 
(tmdique\ should convenire" that is either conform or 
meet} The fact that all roads led to Rome, that she 
was mistress of the highways of the empire, that she 
was most hospitable to strangers, that many bishops in 
the early centuries took journeys to Rome, leads to the 
literal interpretation, but Harnack declares such to be 
" inadmissible^" and Harvey translates " should agree'." 
The list of early Roman bishops which Irenaeus 
gives may possibly have been founded on the work of 
Hegesippus. Hegesippus was an older contemporary 
of Irenaeus. Eusebius* quotes from his Memoirs, in 
which he states that he made a voyage to Rome, and 
when there, "made a list of the succession down to 
Anicetus, whose deacon was Eleutherus." He (presum- 
ably Hegesippus) then adds : " And to Anicetus succeeds 
Soter, after whom Eleutherus." Anicetus was bishop 
A.D. 156 — 167, and Eleutherus A.D. 175 — 189. It is a 
remarkable coincidence that both lists conclude with 
Eleutherus, and that the verb Ziahkyerai, succeeds, is 
used of Soter by Hegesippus, and its participle hi,ahe-)(o- 
fievov, succeeding, by Irenaeus, who had used no verb 
with his three predecessors, Hyginus, Pius, and Anicetus. 

' Deane, Third Book of Irenaeus, Clarendon Press, p. 6, " Principalitas 
= dpxi) not irpareiov. " Is this correct ? 

^ I.e. p. 158. 

' Cf. II. 24. 4, in nuUo communicans argumento eorum, nee concurrens 
figmento eorum, nee conveniens eis, all in sense of agree. 

* H.E. IV. 1^. 



2 54 The Ministry [CH. 

There appears to have been some confusion in the lists, 
for in I. 27. I, Hyginus is distinctly stated to be the 
ninth bishop, and in III. 4. 2, he is expressly called " the 
eighth bishop" This may be due to the inclusion of the 
Apostles in one list and their omission in the other. 
Irenaeus takes it for granted that the Apostles St Peter 
and St Paul founded the Church of Rome, but no point 
in Church history is wrapped in so much obscurity 
as the origin of the Roman Church. The list of the 
Roman bishops given in III. 3. 3, is as follows : " Linus, 
mentioned by Paul in the letters to Timothy, Anacletus, 
Clement, who had seen and met the Apostles, and might 
be said to have their preaching still ringing in his ears 
and their tradition before his eyes. While this Clement 
held office a grave dispute arose among the brethren 
at Corinth, and the Church of Rome sent a most 
appropriate (iKavcoTdTTjv) letter to the Corinthians, urging 
them to have peace.. ..Clement was succeeded by 
Evarestus, Alexander, Sixtus, Telesphorus, Hyginus, 
Pius, Anicetus, Soter and Eleutherius, the twelfth in 
succession from the Apostles who now holds office." 
" By this order and succession," he says, " the apostolic 
teaching and preaching of the truth has come down 
to us" (ill. 3. 3). He also refers to the apostolic character 
and foundation of the Churches of Smyrna and Ephesus. 
" Polycarp," he writes, " who had been instructed in the 
faith {fj,a9rjTev0ei<;) by the Apostles, and had the ad- 
vantage of conversing with many who had seen the 
Lord, was also appointed bishop of the Church in Smyrna 
by the Apostles ; whom we saw in our early youth, for 
he lived to a great age\" " Polycarp sent a most suitable 
(iKavcoTaTt)) letter to the Philippians." Irenaeus also 

' III. 3. 4, iv T^ trpiSiTQ iifiwv ijXiKli}. 



xiv] Continuity and Orders ' 255 

appeals to the Church in Ephesus, which was founded 
by St Paul and where St John remained until the days 
of Trajan, as an equally staunch witness of the apostolic 
tradition. He evidently regards the three apostolic 
foundations on the same footing, giving, however, the 
chief place to the See of Rome. His omission of the 
episcopal lists of Smyrna (which he should have known) 
and Ephesus confirms the view that the Roman list 
was borrowed from Hegesippus, who obtained it from 
Anicetus, and it cannot, therefore, be allowed much weight. 

He appeals to the fact that the whole Church main- 
tains the tradition of the Apostles, and the same faith 
in God the Father, the Son and the Divine Spirit ; 
observes the same precepts and guards the same form 
of Church order eandem figuram ejus quae est erga 
Ecclesiam ordinationis^ in V. 20. i, where Grabe considers 
that there is an allusion to the ordained ministry. In 
IV. 33. 7, he refers to the apostolic doctrine and the 
ancient Church system which is throughout the whole 
world (to apyalov t^? eKKXr/cria^ o-vaTrifia). And he 
recognized as Pauline the Pastoral Epistles, regarding 
which Dr Liddon said : " In our days, the question of 
Episcopacy is increasingly seen to be bound up with 
that of the apostolic origin and authority of the Pastoral 
Epistles^" 

These things show that Irenaeus was a firm upholder 
of law and order in the Church and of the historic 
episcopate. His use of the word " presbyter," however, 
is broad, and was intended to apply to bishops as well 
as priests. For while he regarded every bishop as a 

' But see cui ordinationi assentiunt multae gentes = Church order, 
in. 4. I. 

^ A Father in Christ, p. 14. 



256 The Ministry [ch. 

presbyter, it cannot be shown that he looked upon every 
presbyter as bishop. Linus, he says, held the office of 
the episcopate ^ To the bishops the Apostles entrusted 
the Churches', even their own seat of administration'. 
In the succession of bishops the character of the Body 
of Christ is manifested*. They who were entrusted with 
the Churches also received the ordo traditionis, the order 
of tradition from the Apostles*, and therefore the true 
tradition is found in every Church because "we can 
enumerate those who are appointed as bishops in the 
Churches and their successors down to ourselves'." In 
IV. 26. S, he writes : " Such presbyters doth the Church 
nourish, of whom the prophet speaketh, ' I will give 
thy rulers in peace and thy bishops {e-KiaKoirovi) in 
righteousness'.' " 

But, on the other hand, he refers to those who 
maintain the doctrine of the Apostles and possess with 
priests' orders {cum presbyterii ordine) a sound form of 
speech and life*. In v. 5. i, he appeals to the teaching 
of the presbyters, the disciples of the Apostles, who may 
or may not have been bishops. In V. 20. i, he describes 
the heretics as calling in question the teaching of " the 
holy presbyters," just after he had spoken of "the bishops 
to whom the Apostles entrusted the churches." In 



1 HI. 3. 3, T7IV iirt-ffKOTT^v KXrjpovTat. ^ V. 20. i. 

^ suum ipsorum locum magisterii. 11. 3. i. 

' IV. 33. 8, character corporis Christi secundum successiones Epis- 
coporum. 

^ III. 4. 1. But in III. i. I he says this tradition is guarded by the 
successions of the Presbyters in the churches. 

* III. 3. I. 

' Is. Ix. 17, after LXX. The Hebrew Noges (tJ'Ji) is used of the 
Egyptian taskmasters or overseers Ex. iii. 7, v. 6 ; in Dan. xi. 10 of a raiser 
of taxes, of a tyrant in Is. iii. 12, xiv. i, and here Fuerst compares the 
Ethiopic negus, the title of the old Ethiopic kings. 

* IV. i6. 4. 



xiv] Continuity and Orders 257 

IV. 22. I, he recommends the laity to study the Scrip- 
tures under the tuition of the presbyters who have the 
apostolic doctrine. In IV. 26. 2, he speaks of the 
presbyters in the Church, who have their succession 
from the Apostles, and who, with their succession to 
the episcopate, have received the grace of truth'. He 
also makes mention of the " presbyters before Anicetus " 
and the " presbyters before Soter," and " the successions 
of the presbyters^," and in v. 36. 2 of "the presbyters, the 
disciples of the Apostles," meaning bishops in each case. 
On the strength of these passages Bishop Wordsworth' 
remarks that "St Irenaeus, writing about A.D. 180, still 
uses the terms presbyter and bishop as interchangeable." 
But Irenaeus must have experienced in his own case the 
distinction between the presbyterate and the episcopate. 
As presbyter, he was sent on a deputation to Rome, and, 
as bishop, Pothinus suffered under the Romans, who 
regarded the bishop, and not the presbyter, as the 
representative of the Church. After the martyrdom of 
Polycarp, Irenaeus, as bishop, discharged the episcopal 
duty of exhorting and convincing the gainsayers with 
sound doctrine^ This " rooting out of the thicket of 
heresies" was, according to Hilary the Deacon, the 
author of the distinction "every bishop is a presbyter, 
but every presbyter is not a bishop," the point which dif- 
ferentiated the bishops from the presbyters^ And in III. 
14. 2 Irenaeus seems to distinguish between bishops and 
presbyters. There, describing St Paul's interview with the 
Ephesian elders of Acts xx. 17, he says: "Paul summoned 



' qui cum episcopatus successione charisma veritatis acceperunt. 

' III. -2. 2, per successiones presbyterorum. 

' Ministry of Grace, p. I'S?. ■* Titus i. 9. 

' In Titiivi i. 5. See Ministry of Grace, p. ii2. • 

H. I. 17 



258 The Ministry [ch. 

to Miletus the bishops and presbyters^ who were in 
Ephesus and the neighbouring states... and said ' Attend 
to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy 
Spirit placed you as bishops, to rule^ the Church of God.' " 
St Luke had merely recorded the summoning of the 
presbyters', but in his speech St Paul said, whether 
addressing all the presbyters or a certain number of 
them we cannot tell, " in which the Holy Spirit placed you 
as bishops " {e-iriaKoirovv v. 28). Irenaeus appears to have 
felt the difficulty of presbyters being addressed as 
bishops, and to prevent any further misunderstanding, 
he informed his readers that the bishops were summoned 
as well as the presbyters. He also referred to the ruling 
power which he must have known was in his days in the 
hands of the bishop. 

V. 20. I, where he speaks of the preservation of the 
form of Church ordination, is interesting in the light of 
TertuUian's remarks about the disorderly ordinations of 
the heretics*, " A man who is a bishop to-day will not be 
a bishop to-morrow," etc. 

It is not within our scope to discuss the relation of 
the presbyteri to the episcopi, but it is worthy of mention 
that Irenaeus' used the word "president" (o irpoevTO)^) 
used by Justin Martyr of the consecrating elder', and 
writing of the presbyters in IV. 26. 5 he quotes Is. Ix. 17: 
" I will give thy rulers in peace and thy bishops 
(eVto-KOTTou?) in righteousness " differently from Clement, 
who in his letter to the Corinthians' says: "I will establish 

' convocatis episcopis et presbyteris. 

* regere (Lat.) : so Vg. Greek irot/j.alrca'. 

* irpea^vripovi. Vg. seniores natu. Acts xx. 17. 

* De Praes. c. 41. Grabe refers figuram...ordinationis to the ordained 
ministry ; Harvey to the general constitution of the Church. 

* I. 10. 2, TU» h TOIS iKKKt]<!llU.% irpoeffTilrTUv. 
« Apo/. 65. • ' c. 42. 



XI v] Continuity and Orders * 259 

their bishops, eiTiaK6-irov<i, in righteousness and their 
deacons in faith." The Latin interpreter in the same 
passage renders the word " steward " (oIkov6/jlo<;) of 
Luke xii. 42, confused with Mt. xxiv. 45, by actor or 
agent, the Roman title for the legal representative of 
a corporation' ; and Gains (Digest, III. 4. i) makes 
mention of actor in connection with the area communis. 
Bishop Wordsworth writes : " Probably, therefore, 
Dr Hatch is right when he suggests that the word ' bishop' 
is rather borrowed from the Greek secular associa- 
tions in which eVt'trKOTro? or eTrt/ieXi/Tj}? was a frequent 
title for the overseer or treasurer who invested the funds 
of the Society and decided on their distribution ^" 
Against this, however, we have the LXX. use of the word, 
which may have suggested it to the Christian Jews. 

Charismatic Ministry. In IV. 26. 5, Irenaeus refers 
to the general charismatic ministry of the "apostles, 
prophets and teachers," citing St Paul's words in i Cor. 
xii. 28. These we find at Antioch', while there was 
a more settled organization in Jerusalem, consisting of 
apostles, deacons and " masters of assemBlies." The 
Didache also speaks of an itinerating order of apostles 
and prophets. Irenaeus writes in the passage referred 
to : " Where the charismata of the Lord are placed there 
we must learn the truth, and such are to be found among 
those who have the Church succession from the Apostles*." 
He also claims for the presbyters, " who have succession 
from the Apostles, the charisma of truth"." 

There are references to other charismata of a more 

' Cf. TertiiUian, C. Marc. iv. ig. 

2 Ministry of Grace, p. 110. The reference is to Hatch's Organisation 
cfthe Early Christian Churches, p. 37. 
^ Acts xiii. 
' quae est ab Apostolis Ecclesiae successio. ' IV. 26. i. 

17 — 2 



26o The Ministry [ch. 

transitory nature. In V. 6. i, he writes : "We have also 
heard of many brethren in the Church having prophetical 
gifts {propketica charismata), and speaking in all 
languages through the Spirit, bringing to light the 
hidden things of human life, for the advantage of men 
and explaining the mysteries -of God." In II. 32. 5 he 
speaks of men exorcising demons, seeing visions, uttering 
prophecies, and healing the sick by the laying on of 
hands. And he seems to give his own personal remini- 
scences when he states that "even the dead have been 
raised and continued with us many years," evidently 
a reference to restoration after a long death-like faint or 
trance. He concludes by saying, " It is not possible to 
recount the host of graces which the Church through 
the whole world receives from God in the name of Jesus 
Christ, and which she uses daily for the welfare of 
the nations, deceiving none and taking no money " (/uj^re 
i^apyupi^ofiivT)). He also declares that " it is not by in- 
vocation of angels, nor by incantations, nor by any other 
presumptuous act that she performs these works, but by 
having a pure mind and clean hands, and by honestly 
directing her prayers to the Lord Who made all things, 
and by invoking the name of our Lord Jesus Christ she 
wrought miracles for the weal of men and not for the 
making of proselytes." The recent movement of genuine 
faith-healing in the Anglican and American Churches is 
a proof that this charisma has not been taken from the 
Church, and, indeed, it is the best way to counteract the 
influence of Christian Science. 

A few words remain to be said on the terms clerus, 
(«\^/)09), whence clergy, and sacerdos. The word clerus 
is used of a Church office in III. 3. 3, where we read that 
Eleutherus was the twelfth to hold the office {kXyjpov) of 



xiv] Continuity and Orders 261 

the Episcopate. It is also implied in the same passage, 
where we read that Clement obtains (KXrjpovrai) the 
Episcopate. The use of the word is founded on the 
LXX. of Deut. xviii. — "Whose inheritance (kX^/oo?) is 
God " ; but we may see in it an indication of the growing 
distinction between the clergy and the laity. 

The word sacerdos is connected with clerus or in- 
heritance in IV. 8. 2, where David is described as a priest 
{sacerdos) appointed {scitus) of God\ He also says, 
" Every righteous king has sacerdotal rank^" This 
priesthood has not been annulled by the Master, Who 
Himself fulfilled the works of the High Priest {summus 
sacerdos), propitiating God for man, healing the lepers, 
and dying Himself that exiled man might return to his 
inheritance^, " for all the Apostles of the Lord who have 
no inheritance here, but who serve the altar and the Lord 
continually, are priests {sacerdotes)." " For the Lord 
Himself is their inheritance^ " {K\7)po<;). 

It would seem as if Irenaeus in this passage supported 
the idea afterwards put forward by Cyprian' that the 
Christian ministry performs the sacrificial functions and 
perpetuates the sacerdotal character of the Jewish priest- 



' scitus from scisco, appoint. 

^ irSs /3a<riXeiis dlKaios lepaTiKTiv ?x« rd^ir. In the Edessene Canons 
(25) there is a reference to the privilege of Christian Kings to go up and 
stand before the altar. Compare their privilege of presiding in a sacrosanct 
character at general councils. The consecrating, robing and anointing of 
our King at his coronation give a quasi-episcopal character to his office. 
The Kaiser has on one notable occasion acted as a bishop. 

' IV. 8. 2. * Deut. xviii. 2. 

' Archbishop Benson's Cy/?^'"". P- 34- " For him the bishop Is the sacri- 
ficing priest. Christ veas Himself the Ordainer of the Jewish priesthood. 
The priests of that line were our 'predecessors.' The Jewish priesthood 
at last became ' a name and a shade ' on the day when it crucified Christ. 
Its reality passed on to the Christian bishop. ..The presbyterate is the 
Levite tribe." See IV. 18. 3, hanc oblationem ecclesia sola puram offert... 
Judaei autem jam non offerunt, manus enim eorum sanguine plenae sunt. 



262 The Ministry [CH. 

hood. But the altar is no earthly one — but " is in heaven 
whither our prayers and oblations are directed^" Irenaeus 
did not regard Apostolic succession as the title-deeds of 
an exclusive hierarchy, but as the safeguard of the 
Scriptures, and of the Christian faith and ministry. He 
does speak of the Church in its corporate capacity offering 
its oblation to God^ But in the same connection he 
reminds us that " it is not sacrifices that sanctify the 
man, for God does not need sacrifice, but it is the 
conscience of him who offers that sanctifies the sacrifice, 
being pure, and so enables God to accept it as from a 
friend'." And therefore he says "it behoves us to make 
our offering to God with a pure mind, with faith un- 
feigned, with a firm hope, and fervent love*." 

There is nothing mechanical or sacerdotal in this 
system. The organization and its representatives do not 
in any sense come between man and the Spirit of God or 
the Saviour. In no sense are the predicates of holiness and 
purity transferred from the individual to the institution. 
The holiness of the individual Christian, which he 
believed to be assailed by heretical sects, was the writer's 
concern. And if he believed that the ideal of personal 
holiness could be best realized by one who lived in a 
holy community connected by many visible and invisible 
links and ties with the Lord and His Apostles, and 

1 IV. i8. 6. 

' IV. i8. 4, hanc oblationem Ecclesia sola puram offert fabricatori... 
cum simplicitate Ecclesia offert. These oblations cannot be identified with 
the sacrifice of the Mass, being described as consisting of God's own 
creature (sanctificantes creaturam iv. i8. 6) and our prayers and God 
being said "in se assumere bonas operationes nostras." 

' IV. i8. 3, non sacrificia sanctificant hominem...sed conscientia ejus 
qui offert sanctificat sacrificium. 

* in sententia pura et fide sine hypocrisi, in spe firma, in dilectione ferventi, 
cf. TertuUian De Or. 28 ; nos sumus veri adoratores et veri sacerdotes qui 
Spiritu orantes Spiritu sacrificamus orationem Dei propriam et acceptabilem. 



xiv] Continuity and Orders * 263 

associated with clergy of orthodox faith and blameless 
life^ and established upon the Scriptures, he was but 
applying the principles of St Paul to the exigencies of 
the religious life of his times^. In his day the bishops 
were veritable "Fathers" of their people, desiring nothing 
but to lead them in spiritual things and safeguard them 
from spiritual and moral dangers. The position of 
Irenaeus with regard to the Episcopate could not perhaps 
be better summarised than in the words of Dean Church : 
"The Episcopate has these two things ; it has a history 
inextricably associated with that of Christianity ; and 
next, it is a public sign of community of origin and 
purpose, and an assertion, never faltering, of confidence 
in a continuing future.... Only this has been everywhere 
where Christianity has been, only this belongs peculiarly 
to Christianity as a whole'." 

^ IV. 26. 3, adhaerere his qui Apostolorura doctrinara custodiunt et 
cum presbyterii ordine sermonem sanum et conversationem sine offensa 
praestant. 

^ I Cor. xii. 37, 18 "Now ye are the body of Christ and severally 
members, etc."; Eph. iv. ii, 12 "And he gave some to be Apostles... for 
the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the 
body of Christ" ; ibid. v. 23 "Christ is the head of the Church : and he is the 
Saviour of the body"; iv. 16 "From whom the whole body fitly joined 
together. . .maketh the increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love." 

' Pascal and other Sermons,^. 105. 



CHAPTER XV 

THE SACRAMENTS OF THE CHURCH 
Holy Baptism 

The word sacrament is used by the Latin interpreter 
in a broad sense for mystery in II. 30. 7 where St Paul 
is described as seeing in his vision spiritual mysteries, 
sacramenta spiritalia. TertuUian^ also used the word in 
the same sense, i.e. " ejusdem sacramenti traditio." 

As regards Holy Baptism, it is to be noted, amid 
the general obscurity of the subject, that in the time of 
Irenaeus Infant Baptism had become general. This 
practice was based by him upon the principle that in 
Christ every age of human life was virtually recapitulated 
and sanctified. See II. 22. 4, " He sanctified every age 
by the corresponding part of His own. For He came to 
save all through Himself, all,i I say, who through Him 
receive the new birth unto God^, infants and children, 
youths and their elders. Therefore He passed through 
every age, becoming an infant for infants, thus sancti- 
fying infants, a child for children, sanctifying all such, 
and giving them an example of piety, and performance, 
obedience and righteousness." Irenaeus regarded Infant 
Baptism as highly proper, therefore, being truly based 

' De Praes. 20. ^ renascuntur in Deum. 



CH. xv] Holy Baptism . 265 

upon the Incarnation and leading to regeneration. 
Tertullian's objection to it was not that children cannot 
receive the grace of Baptism, but that it was advisable 
to defer the performance of the rite because of the 
responsibility it brought'. Origen insisted on it, because 
he regarded birth in itself as unclean, while Irenaeus 
regarded Baptism as a seal of the salvation of the body. 

He sets forth the special grace of Baptism in many 
passages. See III. 17. 2 "Our bodies received unity with 
Christ through that laver^ which leads to incorruption, 
but our spirits through the Spirit. Hence both are 
necessary, since both lead to eternal life.'' In ill. 17. i 
he describes our Lord as giving the power of regeneration 
nnto God^ to His disciples, when He said, "Go, teach 
all nations," etc. In I. 21. i he said a certain class of 
heretics " were suborned by Satan to deny that Baptism 
which is a regeneration {avayevvrfai';) unto God." In 
V. 1 5. 3 he writes : " And seeing that the man, so far as he 
took his origin from Adam, was made in transgression 
and needed the laver of regeneration, the Lord said to 
him after He had anointed his eyes with clay, ' Go to 
Siloarh and wash,' thus restoring to him his perfect form 
and that regeneration which is through the laver!' 
" Foolish are they who despise the universal economy of 
God and deny the salvation of the flesh and its regenera- 
tion, calling in question its capacity for incorruption"*." 

Compare Justin Martyr's Apology^, " No one is 
allowed to partake of the Eucharist unless he believes 
the articles of our faith and has been washed in the 

' pondus Baptismi. Z>e Bapt. c. 18. 

2 lavacrum = XopTpo>', cf. Tit. iii. 5, cited in v. 15. 3, lavacro 
vegenerationis. 

3 Cf. Acts viii. 19, " Give me also this power i^kf^ovalav) that he on 
whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit." 

* V. 1. 2. " c. (>(>. 



266 The Sacraments of the Church [cH. 

laver for the remission of sins and for regeneration " 
{avw^kvv'')<Tiv). 

It is a matter of regret that Irenaeus did not throw 
more light on the procedure of the Early Church in 
Baptism. However, Tertullian' speaks of the renuncia- 
tion made in the church under the hand of the bishop 
{antistes), the answer of those (adults) who were to be 
baptized, the trine immersion, the cup of honey and 
milk, and the sponsors^. According to him, the bishop' 
{summus sacerdos) has the right to give Baptism, and 
when authorized by him, the priests and deacons, for the 
honour of the Church. 

Baptismal regeneration is further defined by Irenaeus, 
indirectly, it is true, in a passage bearing on the work of 
the Holy Spirit in Baptism, as the entrance to life\ 
The use of the Latin renascuntur in Deum, formed after 
the Greek "baptizing into the Name^" ; the reference to 
the Baptismal commission ; the mention of God's pre- 
serving the race of Adam by the type of the ark^ ; the 
mention of the Baptism of Jesus for the remission of 
sins' ; and of the laver of regeneration in connection with 
Baptism, are sufficient evidence that he held a special 
grace of Baptism. Indeed, we may say that his views 

^ De Corona Militis, c. 4. ^ De Baptismo, c. 18. 

' De Bapt. 17, summus sacerdos qui est episcopus. Irenaeus iv. 8. 2 
says of Christ, summi sacerdotis opera perficiens propitians pro hominibus 
Deum. Bishop Wordsworth in Ministry of Grace, pp. 80, 156, mentions 
that it was ' ' a peculiarity of the Church of Milan that no baptisms were 
administered in the absence of the bishop." 

* introitus vitae. III. 17. i. In III. 3. 4 he defined the Church as 
' ' introitus vitae." 

* IV. 36. 4, servaret arcae typum. Massuet conjectures archetypum. 
Grabe sees an allusion to i Peter iii. 20. But this would require the 
addition oi per. In i Pet. iii. ■21, however, the antitype of Baptism is not 
the ark but the water through which Noah and his family were brought 
in safety. 



xv] Holy Baptism , 267 

on the subject are now expressed in the formularies of 
the Anglican Church, for he regarded it as a rite to be 
administered to infants who, as well as adults, are 
therein reborn into God, and as a means of grace 
conveying regeneration or a death unto sin and a new 
birth unto righteousness. 

He also recommended that the rite should be ad- 
ministered in the regular form and with the prescribed 
words, condemning the practices of the Gnostics, who 
altered both, and turned the sacred ordinance into an 
elaborate ceremony. See I. 21. 3, "Some," he tells us, 
" prepare a marriage couch, and go through a mystical 
performance, pronouncing strange formulae over those 
who are being initiated, and declare that it is a spiritual 
marriage after the form of the heavenly unions. Others 
lead them to the water and baptize them pronouncing 
over them the words, ' Into the name of the unknown 
Father of all things, into Truth, the Mother of all things, 
into Him Who descended upon Jesus, into union and 
redemption and communion with the powers.' Others, 
with a view to bewilder the neophytes, repeat some 
Hebrew names, ' Basema Camosse,' etc., etc. Others 
invoke the redemption thus : ' The Name which is 
hidden from every deity and dominion and truth, with 
which Jesus of Nazareth was arrayed in the lives' of 
the light, even of Christ our Lord, Who lived through 
the Holy Spirit for angelic redemption.' The name that 
renews them is ' Messia Ufar, etc.,' which is pronounced 
by the consecrating minister while the consecrated one 
says, ' I am confirmed and redeemed, I redeem my soul 
from this age and from all things connected with it, in 
the name of Jao who redeemed his soul for redemption 

1 fuois, Lat. zonis reading fiiyois. 



268 The Sacraments of the Church [cH. 

in the living Christ' After this they anoint the initiated 
one with balsam, for they regard the ointment {jivpov) as 
a type of the sweet odour which is over the universe." 

There are some, however, who assert that it is not 
necessary to bring people to water. They mix oil and 
water, and put this mixture upon the heads of those who 
are to receive the rites of initiation, with some of the 
expressions already mentioned. This they maintain is 
the redemption {airoXvrpmcn^). They also anoint him 
with balsam. Others, however, object to all such ritual, 
asserting that the mystery of the unspeakable and 
invisible power should not be performed by visible and 
corruptible creatures. They hold that the full knowledge 
{iiTLyvaai';) of the ineffable power in itself constitutes 
perfect redemption. By gnosis (knowledge) the condition 
which arises from ignorance is dissolved, so that gnosis 
is the redemption of the inner man. Others again 
redeem the dying', even to the hour of death putting oil 
and water on their heads or the above mentioned ointment 
with water and the said invocations. 

Along with all these eccentricities the Gnostics 
carried over into their various systems the Christian 
doctrine of incorporation into and redemption by Christ. 
Some of their forms may have been founded on ancient 
Church practices. To the custom of sealing the forehead 
with chrism in confirmation, a Roman tradition^ that 
gradually spread through the Western Church, there 



1 I. 21. 4, mortuos. Grabe remarks that Epiphanius is speaking of the 
dying, not of the dead. However, the dead may be meant. By the 
Council of Carthage (in. Can. 6) it was forbidden to give the Eucharist to 
the dead, so that the custom may have been in vogue. But the Gnostics 
could not be deterred by Church Councils or Canons. Note that it 
considered unluclcy for Romanists to recover after Extreme Unction. 

^ Bishop Wordsworth, I.e. 156. 



xv] Holy Baptism 269 

may be an allusion in III. 20. 2 " eum assignans Deo^ " 
(sealing him for God). Compare the reference in 
St Patrick's letter (c. 3) to chrism, "Crismati neophyti 
in vesta Candida dum fides fragrabat in fronte ipsorum." 
It is also stated that the Irish baptized the sons of the 
rich in milk. With regard to the account of the Gnostic 
ritual of Baptism and Confirmation certain parallels are 
to be found to the description of such in the Ecclesiastical 
Hierarchy of Dionysius the Areopagite. In both the 
unguent is called muron {fivpov) ; in the one the rite is 
called unguent of perfection (reXetcoTiKr) ■)(plai^), by the 
others, the Gnostics, Baptism is described as leading to 
perfection (eh Tekeimaiv). 

The Eucharist 

The Eucharist is generally placed by the early 
Fathers in close connection with Baptism, as continuing 
in man the spiritual life which was held to commence 
therein. See Tertullian Adv. Marc. iv. 34 and Hip- 
polytus, Can. Arab. 38. While Baptism was generally 
regarded as the entrance into life, incorporation into the 
Body of Christ, by the forgiveness of sins and the 
regeneration into God^ the Holy Spirit was believed to 
support the new life with Divine food in the other 
Sacrament. Forgiveness of sins is rarely mentioned in 
connection with the Eucharist, but the grace of that 
Sacrament, though never strictly defined, was held to 

1 Cf. Persius v. 8, Adsigna, Marce, tabellas. 

■" Harnack, History of Dogma II. 140, "We frequently find 'deliver- 
ance from death,' ' regeneration of man,' ' restoration to the image of God,' 
and 'obtaining of the Holy Spirit,' named along with the 'remission of 
sins,' and 'obtaining of eternal life.' Examples are to be found in 
Tertullian, Adv. Marc. I. 28 and elsewhere." Irenaeus described baptism 
as " the entrance to life " and also described the Church as the " entrance 
to life." 



270 The Sacraments of the Church [ch. 

be a spiritual communication which imparted incorruption 
and a pledge of the resurrection of the body. Hooker, in 
language that recalls Irenaeus, describes its " effect " as 
" a real transmutation of our souls and bodies from sin 
to righteousness, from death and corruption to righteous- 
ness, immortality and life\" 

Irenaeus, adopting the phrase of the day, styled the 
consecrated bread and wine the Body and Blood of 
Christ. In IV. 18. 4 he demands "how they (the 
Gnostics) can consistently regard that bread over which 
thanksgiving has been made as the Body of their Lord, 
and the cup as the cup of His Blood, if they deny that 
He Himself is the Son of the Creator of the world?" 
From one of his Fragments^ we see that this phrase led 
to serious misunderstandings. " The slaves,'' he writes, 
" informed their examiners that they heard their masters 
speaking of the ' Holy Communion ' (@eia fji.eTaX'qyjni;) as 
the Body and Blood of Christ, thinking that this was 
actually blood and flesh.... But Blandina well answered, 
' How could we endure such food, seeing that, owing to 
our ascetic custom, we do not partake of ordinary 
meat?'" 

His doctrine of the Eucharist reflects everywhere the 
devotional spirit of the man. But we need not be 
surprised to find it coloured in some places by an anti- 
Gnostic bias. For in his controversy with Gnosticism 
and Manicheism he felt the necessity of emphasizing the 
place of the material in the Divine economy, of asserting 
the resurrection of the body, the salvation of the flesh, 
and the need of communion with Christ. For instance, 

1 Eccl. Pol. V. 67. 

" Preserved in Oecumenius on i Pet. c. iii. p. 198. Grabe says that 
the passage is evidently condensed, Harvey 11. 482, Frag. xni. 



xv] The Eucharist 271 

in IV. 18. 5 he argues with those who deny that the 
Father is the Creator and that Jesus is His Word 
Creative, writing : " How can they say that the flesh 
passes into corruption and does not partake of eternal 
Hfe, if that flesh has been fed on the Body and Blood of 
the Lord ? Let them either change their doctrine or 
cease to make oblations. But our doctrine is in perfect 
harmony with the Eucharist, and the Eucharist confirms 
our doctrine." He then defines the Sacrament in the 
following words, which recall the Anglican Catechism : 
" We offer to God His own, and we consistently set 
forth the union and fellowship of flesh and spirit, and 
confess our belief in the resurrection of both flesh and 
spirit. For as the bread from the earth, receiving the 
invocation' of God, is no longer common {koivo';) bread, 
l>ut is a Eucharist consisting of two parts (e'/e Syo 
"KpayfioTtov), an earthly and a heavenly : in the same way 
our bodies receiving the Eucharist are no longer mortal, 
seeing that they possess the hope of the resurrection to 
eternal life." With this distinction of the earthly and 
the heavenly in the Eucharist compare the answers in 
the Church Catechism to the questions " What meanest 
thou by this word Sacrament ? " and " How many parts 
are there in a Sacrament .■' " Ifenaeus would doubtless 
have approved of the distinction made there between 

' The Greek is ^n/cXijiru', evocation, not iTriKkt]aiv , invocation. The 
former word emphasizes the source of the blessing rather than its effect 
upon the bread and wine. Hamack, Texte und Untersuchungen N.F. 
^- 3; P- 56' argues that iKK\-i\avs is an error of Halloix which led Pfaff to 
use e/c(coXoC/iev in his celebrated fragment. The Latin interpreter has 
" invocationem. " Irenaeus himself refers to the Gnostics' use of the 
invocation twice in I. 13. 2, e.g. ixTdvuv rhv \lsyov Tri% ^TrocXiJcrews. 
Basil refers to this iTrUXriais in de S. Sp. 66. See also Liturgies of the 
Verona Fragment, St Mark, Armenia, Sarum, England 1549, and the 
Scottish Office. Cf. Mr E. Bishop's note on iirlK\riais, Texts and Sludiei 
vni. I (1909). One would think that Irenaeus most probably wrote 
iiriKXrjcnv, but for the rule that the harder reading is the more likely. 



272 The Sacraments of the Church [CH. 

"the outward and visible sign" and "the inward and 
spiritual grace." And with the pledge of resurrection 
conveyed in the Sacrament according to Irenaeus we 
may compare the solemn words of Administration : " The 
Body of our Lord Jesus Christ... preserve thy body and 
soul unto everlasting life." 

Justin Martyr in his Apologia} had previously written : 
"This food is called a Eucharist, and is only to be 
received by the faithful who have been baptized. For 
we do not receive this as common'^ (koivov) bread or 
common drink. But as through the Word of God, our 
Saviour Jesus Christ, after His Incarnation, took flesh 
and blood for our salvation, even so also the food, 
which has received the thanksgiving" of that same Word 
of His in prayer, and is converted by assimilation 
(/*6Ta/3oX7;) into our flesh and blood, we have been 
taught to regard as the flesh and blood of the Jesus who 
became incarnate." 

That passage is to a large extent the source of 
Irenaeus' doctrine of the Eucharist. Irenaeus also 
followed his master in referring Malachi's prophecy of 
a pure offering to the Eucharist* ; and, like him, regarded 
the offering in the Eucharist as a thank-offering of the 
fruits of the earth, and as a means of communion with 
Christ, the Lord of Creation. The Church of England 
in the prayer for the Church Militant prays God "to 
accept our alms and oblations" (meaning by the latter 

1 c. 65, 66. 

^ Cf. " Of this wine and bread even we are careful to let none fall to 
the ground." TertuUian, De Cor. Mil. 4. 

' Cf. Ti)c iC -^ix^l^ \isr^ov ToO Trap' airaH eixapurTr]Seurav rpoip^ii, "the 
food which is consecrated by the prayer of His word," of Justin with 
' ' panem in quo gratiae actae sint, corpus esse Domini sui et calicem sanguinis 
sui," of Irenaeus IV. 18. 4. 

* Dialog, c. 41. Iren. Adv. Haer. IV. 17. 5. 



xv] The Eucharist .273 

the Bread and Wine), and in the Consecration Prayer 
the priest says : " Grant that we receiving these Thy 
creatures of bread and wine," etc. In IV. 18. 6 Irenaeus 
says : " For we make our oblations to Him, not because 
He needs them, but in order that we may offer thanks to 
His dominion', and sanctify His Creation. For as God 
wants nothing of those things which belong to us, so we 
want to offer something to God. For God, Who needs 
nothing, takes up to Himself our good works with a 
view to reward them. Accordingly, the Word Himself 
gave the people the precept of making oblations, although 
He required them not, that they might learn to serve 
God. And so, likewise. He would have us offer our gift 
at the altar frequently and continually V In the con- 
cluding words there is a reference to a continuous rather 
than to a daily Eucharist'. This latter was the use of 
the Church of Jerusalem^ is stated by Jerome to have 
been the practice at Rome and in the Spanish Churches', 
and according to Cyprian' and Augustine' was the 
custom of the African Churches. There was, however, 
a variety of uses, and Hippolytus, according to Jerome, 
discussed the question " Whether the Eucharist should 
be received daily.'' This custom may possibly have been 
in vogue in the Church of Gaul. 

This offering of bread and wine directed by prayer 
to the heavenly altar there becomes a Eucharist. " There 
is," Irenaeus writes, " an altar in heaven (for thither our 
prayers and oblations are directed) and a temple, as 

1 dominationi (rule), CI. and Voss., but donationi (gift) Ar. 
' sine intermissione. 

' See Bishop Wordsworth, Ministry of Grace, 331 — 339. 
• Acts ii. 46. ^ Ep.-ji. 

' De Or at. Dom. 18. 

' Sermon on Mount, II. 7. 25. See also Conf. 6. 2. Monnica followed 
this use. 

H. I. 18 



2 74 The Sacraments of the Church [ch. 

John said in the Apocalypse'." The Eucharist was 
evidently, then, regarded by Irenaeus as a sacrifice of 
the first-fruits of the earth. The question is whether he 
considered the Sacrament of the Eucharist not only as 
an occasion of communion with Christ, but also of 
pleading or presenting Him in sacrifice. The passage 
cited in support of this latter idea is IV. i8. 4: "for the 
Jews could not make this sacrifice, their hands being full 
of blood, and they did not receive the Word (through) 
Whom offering is made to God^," the words /^r and Deo 
being questioned. It is quite possible that they are 
sound, as in IV. 17. 6: "In God Almighty the Church 
makes her offering through (per) Jesus Christ." It is 
also to be remembered that Irenaeus insists on the 
permanence of the distinction between the two elements, 
the real and the heavenly, in the Lord's Supper, even 
after receiving the consecration of God'. This distinction 
does not favour the view that the Word is offered in the 
Eucharist. He never says or implies that Christ is 
corporally or really offered there. But he held that " by 
the omnipotency of Christ's Word," to use Bishop Ridley's 

1 IV. 18. 6. 

2 Verbum per quod offertur Deo. Ar. and Merc. 2 and editors have 
this reading. Clerm. and Voss. omA per. Massuet also omits it saying 
that this " lectio cum Irenaei scopo aptius congruit." He says that neither 
the Jews nor the heretics could offer a pure oblation. But this oblation he 
understands to be of the Verbum offered to God " in Sacrificio Eucharistiae 
cujus typus et umbra erant veteris legis sacrificia. " " The Divine Incarnate 
Word is the true victim (hostia) of the new law offered by the Church " 
according to Massuet. But such a thought is not Irenaean. See iv. 17. 6 
" In Deo Omnipotente per Jesum Christum offert Ecclesia " ; cf. also 
Origan c. Cels. vili. 13 "bringing to God the prayers through his Only- 
Begotten Son, to whom we first present them, requesting Him as an 
High-Priest to bring our prayers, sacrifices and intercessions to Almighty 
God." When speaking of these sacrifices of the Church, Irenaeus says 
in the same passage "conscientia ejus qui offert sanctificat sacrificium." 
Would he have said this if the oblation were the Son of God Himself? 
Would He need any sanctifying prayer or conscience of men ? 

IV. 18. 5. 



xv] The Eucharist •275 

expression which is similar to " in Deo omnipotente " 
above, the offering is presented to God, and that the 
benefit thereof is "the strengthening and refreshing of 
our souls by the Body and Blood of Christ, as our bodies 
are by the Bread and Wine.'' In V. 2. 2 he speaks thus 
of the Institution : " The cup of His creation He con- 
fessed to be His own Blood by which He causes our 
blood to flow, and the bread of His creation He affirmed 
to be His own Body from which He supports our bodies." 
And in V. 2. 3 he says : " Seeing that the mixed chalice 
and the bread that is made receives the Word of God 
(iiriBexeTai tov Xoyov tov 6eov. This may mean nothing 
more than the word of institution ; the eKK\r)a-i,<; 
rov deov or i-rriKK'qa-i'i^ of IV. 1 8. 5) ^^d becomes the 
Eucharist of the Body and Blood of Christ by which 
the substance of our flesh is fed and fostered "..."These 
fruits of the earth receiving the Word of God become 
a Eucharist Which is the Body and Blood of Christ." 
The difficulty here is " the Word of God." Is it the word 
of institution, or the Word Himself through Whom it is 
offered? In the Early Church the idea prevailed that 
the Saviour would come at the Sunday (the day of the 
Resurrection) communion^, especially the Easter one. 
The place of this expectation was supplied in later days 
by the prayer for the Lord's Advent {iTnBrjfirjadTto) upon 
the Bread and Wine^ ; an idea which Bishop Wordsworth* 

' Cf. V. 2. 3 TTpoaKaii^apbiiOia rbv \byov toC SeoC. Pfaff's 2nd fragm. 
has an evocation of the Holy Spirit, i.e. iKKaXov/iei' rb irveOiMi t6 iiyiov. 

^ This expectation would explain St Paul's words "Ye do proclaim 
the Lord's death till he come" (i Cor. xi. 26). The Jews expected that 
their Messiah would come in the middle of the night after the feast 
{Jerome on Mt. iv. 25). Buxtorf Syn. lud. p. 416 Maran-athd "the Lord 
Cometh" (i Cor. xvi. 22, Didachi yl. 4) is the watchword of the Eucharist. 
Cf. use of Hosanna (Apost. Const, vill. 12, p. 259 Lagarde). 

' Sarapion's Prayer Book. 

* Ministry of Grace, p. 314. 

18-2 



276 The Sacraments of the Church - [ch. 

suggests may have been taken from the words of Irenaeus 
quoted above'. While then it is not clear that it is 
Christ the Word to Whom reference is intended, it is 
not impossible that Irenaeus held, as Keble afterwards 
did, that Christ is the real consecrator in every Eucharist. 
On the other hand, it was the popular conception of his 
day that the word or prayer spoken over a thing imparted 
some mysterious virtue to it. See the account of the 
Gnostic invocation in i. 13. 2^ already referred to. 

With regard to the virtus sacramenti, he taught that 
the soul is brought into touch with the Word in the 
Eucharist, and has communion with Him Who is really 
present in the Sacrament. " For we need communion 
with Him, and therefore He gave Himself freely'." He 
seems to lend support to Waterland's view that the res 
sacramenti is the crucified rather than the glorified Body 
of Christ. His controversy with Gnosticism led him to 
lay stress upon the reality of our Lord's natural man- 
hood, and to regard the cleansing and nourishing of our 
bodies and the gift of immortality to the perishing flesh 
as the grace of the Eucharist. His emphatic assertion 
that "the Eucharist consists of two realities {Ik hio 
irpa/^fjidrcDv), a heavenly and an earthly," shows that he 
was not aware of any such change as is implied by the 
term transubstantiation. This statement of Irenaeus 
would, indeed, as Bishop Gore points out*, safeguard the 
Church against that doctrine of transubstantiation, which 

1 V. i. 3. 

2 The Gnostic Marcus in the Eucharist in I. 13. 2 (passage recovered 
from Epiphanius) prolonging the word of invocation iirl ir\iov iKTelviav toy 
\6riov T^s i-irixMiffews makes the water appear red so that it seemed that the 
Grace who is over all dropped her blood into the cup at his invocation 
5iA Tijs ^JTi/cXiJo-eMs airoD, cf. Deus cujus et invocationem tremebant (i.e. 
daemones) 11. 6. 2. Hippolytus Philos. vi. 39 refers to this "word of 
invocation." 

' V. x. 1. < Body of Christ, p. ir6. 



xv] The Eucharist . 277 

he says "owed its origin to the monophysite tendency 
of the Eastern Church, the tendency to absorb and 
annihilate the human in the divine, the natural in the 
supernatural " and which Bishop Wordsworth describes 
as "easily expressed but untenable, and as having 
changed the solemn Eucharist from a home-like com- 
munion feast into a drama in which the priest and his 
assistants are the only participators'." There is, conse- 
quently, " a line of deep cleavage " between the views of 
Irenaeus and those of the Roman Church on this subject. 
But it is no longer certain that he ever referred to the 
Bread and Wine as " antitypes," the genuineness of the 
Pfaff Fragment, in which that expression is found, 
having been disproved by Dr Harnack^. TertuUian, 
however, declares that Jesus used bread "to represent 
His own Body'," and speaks of the bread as "figura 
corporis." This expression also occurs in the Latin 
Canon in the De Sacramentis, a work founded on 
Ambrose's De Mysteriis : " Fac nobis hanc oblationem 
adscriptam...quod figura est corporis et sanguinis Domini 
nostri Jesu Christi." Irenaeus did not speak of any 
physical change in the elements, or conceive Christ as 
present in a corporeal manner in the Eucharist ; but it 
seems as if he alludes to some mystical or sacramental 
addition of the Word or of a consecrating word to the 
elements, that entitled the latter to be called the 

' I.e. p. 103. 

'^ ol fiera^a^dtiTes Toirav r&v ivTiTiwuv Pfaff, Fragm. 3. Harnack, 
TexU und Unler. N.F. v. 3, p. 36. 

' Adv. Marc. i. 14, nee panem (reprobavit) qui ipsum corpus suum 
repraesentat, etiam in sacramentis propriis egens mendicitatibus Creatoris, 
" the bread with which he represents His own very body, even in His 
Sacraments requiring 'the beggarly elements' of the Creator." Cf. Apost. 
Const. VIII. 12, "We beseech thee to send thy Holy Spirit upon this 
sacrifice that he may declare this bread to be the body of Christ " (oirws 
a-KO(frl)vri). This is borrowed by Pfaff for his Second Fragment. 



278 The Sacraments of the Church [ch. 

Eucharist of the Body and Blood of Christ. Such a 
sacramental union of the Word with the consecrated 
elements would be based by him on the fact that the 
Word was the Creator of the world. Whereas we regard 
the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper as an extension of 
the grace of the Incarnation ; in his anti-Gnostic eyes it 
was rather an extension of His creative energy, by virtue 
of which " He acknowledged the wine-cup of His creation 
to be His Blood, and the bread of His creation to be 
His Body^" And as such it served as a protest against 
that shallow Manichaeism or Spiritualism that considered 
all that is material or bodily as having no function or 
place in the realm of grace. The body, Irenaeus insists, 
as well as the soul is sanctified by the Eucharist to ever- 
lasting life. 

With regard to the order of the Eucharist, there are 
in the Treatise four clearly marked steps in the service 
before the act of communion: (i) the presentation of 
the offerings with prayers, (2) the thanksgiving, (3) the 
evocation or invocation of the Word(.'), and (4) the 
sanctification of the elements. 

Presentation. In IV. 18. 5 he writes "we offer to God 
the things that are His own, suitably proclaiming the 
communion and union of flesh and spirit." In IV. 18. 6 
he says : " We present our offering, offering thanks over 
His gift'' " ; and when speaking of the heavenly altar, he 
says in the same section, "thither our prayers and 
oblations are directed." And in IV. 17. 5 he treats part, 

' V. ^. L. The Word of God might well call these fruits of the earth 
His Body and His Blood for He was their creator, and it was only through 
His Divine energy that they could pass into our substance and be assimi- 
lated by us. 

" gratias agentes donation] ejus (donationi Ar. etc. dominationi Cler. 
Vet. Voss). 



xv] The Eucharist -279 

if not the whole, of the service as an offering of the first- 
fruits, writing : " Our Lord when advising His disciples 
to offer to God the first-fruits of His creatures." The 
corresponding passage, "to accept our alms and oblations," 
in the Prayer for the Church Militant has been noticed. 
Again, he says in iv. 17. 5 " And similarly the cup, which 
is of the same creation as ourselves. He confessed was 
His Blood, and taught that it was the new oblation of the 
New Testament, which the Church receiving from the 
Apostles, offers to God in all the world, even to Him 
Who gives us nourishment, the first-fruits of His gifts in 
the New Testament." 

Thanksgiving. In IV. 18. 4 he demands how the 
Gnostics, who deny that Christ was the creator of the 
bread and wine, consistently say that the bread over 
which^ thanksgiving has been made^ is the Body of 
their Lord. He also says in the same section : " It is 
our bounden duty to make an oblation to God, and in all 
cases to be found grateful to God our Maker, with pure 
mind, with faith unfeigned, with firm hope and fervent 
love, offering the first-fruits of His own creatures' to 
Him. And this oblation the Church alone can — for 
the Jews cannot do so — offer in purity to the Maker, 
presenting to Him an oblation of His creatures with 
thanksgiving (cuin gratiarum actione)." Eucharistein 
(€y%a/3t<rTeti') is used in the sense of consecrate in I. 1 3. 2, 
e.g., to consecrate {exi'y^a.piaTa.v) mixed cups of wine. The 
Latin renders it by gratias agere, to give thanks, er- 
roneously. Compare his letter to Victor, "Anicetus 

' Cf. Justin Martyr, Apologia 65 : " And when the President has 
concluded the prayers and the thanksgiving (or the Eucharist), the people 
say 'Amen.'" Cf. i Cor. xiv. 16. 

2 in quo gratiae actae sint. 

5 Cf. P. B. Consecration Prayer. " Grant that we receiving these thy 
creatures of bread and wine." 



28o The Sacraments of the Church [cH. 

conceded the Eucharist (i.e., the consecration) to 
Polycarp\" 

Evocation or Invocation. "For the bread -after 
receiving the evocation of God is no longer ordinary 
bread, but a Eucharist consisting of two realities, an 
earthly and a heavenly"." This is described in V. 2. 3 as 
the bread receiving the Word (or word) of God, and has 
already been discussed at length. We learn incidentally 
from the same passage that a mixed cup was used. So 
Cyprian, Ep. 63, Const. Ap. 8. 12, Council of Carthage, 
Saxon Church and Syrian Church. 

Sanctification. The result of this Evocation or In- 
vocation is a sanctification of the natural elements. In 
IV. 1 8. 6 we have the phrase, " We present our offering, 
thanking Him for His gift, &nd. sanctifying His creature^." 
Compare the prayer of the English Prayer-Book of 1549 : 
" And with Thy Holy Spirit and Word vouchsafe to 
bless and sanctify these Thy gifts and creatures of bread 
and wine." See also the Scottish Office. The word 
" sanctification " may correspond to " consecration " in 
our Office. 

One aspect of the Eucharist, eloquently expressed in 
the Anglican Liturgy as the offering and presentation of 
" ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy 
and lively sacrifice " unto God, and founded on Romans 
xii. I, was not overlooked by Irenaeus, although he 
regarded the offering of the first-fruits of the earth, the 
Christian minkhak*, as the chief oblation of the Churchy 
for he writes in IV. 19. 3 : Sacrifices do not sanctify the 

' Eusebius H.E. v. 24 irop6x<ip';crc;' riiv euxapiffrioi'. 
^ IV. 18. 5. ^ sanctificantes creaturam. 

* (nnjp) in the Mosaic law always of an unbloody sacri6ce such as the 
meat (bread) and drink offerings. Lev. ii. i, etc. 
5 IV. 18. 4. 



xv] The Eucharist ,281 

man, but the pure conscience of the man sanctifies the 
sacrifice." And with his words that describe the frame 
of mind in which the Church presents her offering, i.e., 
" with grateful hearts, in a pure mind, with faith unfeigned, 
firm hope and steadfast love'," compare our words of 
Administration, " and feed on Him in thy heart by faith 
with thanksgiving." 

The Pfaff Fragments. 

These fragments have been cited in connection with 
Irenaeus' views of the Eucharist. The four fragments 
are published in Stieren's and Harvey's editions. Prof 
Harnack in Texte und Untersuchungen"^ gives an in- 
teresting account of these fragments, which he stigmatizes 
as deliberate forgeries. They were first published in an 
Italian journal (1713), Giornale de' Letterati d'ltalia, 
accompanied by an editorial note by Scipio Maffei 
pointing out that the full title of the author, Irenaeus, 
Bishop of Lugdunum, was omitted, that the elements of 
the Lord's Supper were designated "antitypes," that 
the Spirit was invoked, and the doubtful Apostolical 
Constitutions were used, all which points were against the 
authenticity of the fragments. Pfaff replied in 1715 
very feebly to the charges, said he found them in manu- 
scripts of some antiquity and was attracted by the light 
they threw upon the oblation and consecration of the 
Eucharist. 

The following is the passage on which so much was 
staked : " Now these oblations are not according to the 
law, the handwriting of which the Lord removed and 

' IV. 18. 4, in sententia pura, et fide sine hypocrisi, in spe firma, in 
dilectione ferventi. 
2 N.F. V. 3. 



282 The Sacraments of the Church [cH. xv 

cancelled, but they are according to the Spirit, for we 
must worship God in Spirit and in truth. Wherefore, 
the oblation of the Eucharist is not a carnal one, but 
a spiritual, and in this regard is pure. For we make an 
oblation to God of the Bread and the Cup of Blessing, 
making our thanksgiving to God because He commanded 
the earth to bring forth these fruits for our sustenance. 
And then, when we have finished the oblation, we evoke 
{€KKaXov/j,ev) the Holy Spirit that He may exhibit 
(d7ro(f>i]vr]) this Sacrifice, the Bread as the Body of Christ, 
and the Cup as the Blood of Christ, in order that they 
who receive these antitypes {dvTiTVTra) may obtain re- 
mission of sins and eternal life." 

An examination of this and the other passages 
revealed (i) a use of the 8th Book of the Apostolic 
Constitutions, (2) an expression, " we evoke the Holy 
Spirit," which is based on the use of eKKXr]ai<; in the 
Treatise, (3) a connection of the Eucharist with forgive- 
ness, whereas Irenaeus associates it with the hope of 
resurrection. It seems that the irony of fate has not 
allowed the writings of Irenaeus to be safeguarded 
against that form of literary composition he most ab- 
horred — the cento \ 

^ See II. 14. I centonem ex multiset pessimis panniculis consarcientes. 



CHAPTER XVI 

PSYCHOLOGY, SALVATION, FUTURE HOPE 

The Psychology of Irenaeus is somewhat obscured 
by his theological views, and somewhat complicated 
because he speaks of man in some places as consisting 
of body and soul, and at other times recognizes the 
Pauline division of body, soul, and spirit. The chief 
difficulty in discussing his psychology, however, arises 
from the fact that he seems at times to identify the 
spirit of man with the Spirit of God, and to define the 
likeness of God, after which man is intended to develop, 
as situated now in reason, now in freedom of will, and 
anon in communion with the Divine Spirit. Broadly 
speaking, we may say that he recognized a trinity of 
body, soul and spirit in one personality, and the freedom 
of will, the possession of the image of God and the 
capacity to grow after His likeness in man, who was 
naturally imperfect because a creature', who lost his 
immortality because of his disobedience^ and who 
attained incorruptibility through the Incarnation of his 
Lord^ 

The tripartite division of man is set forth in v. 9. i : 

* IV. 38. I, Ka86 5e fi-^ iariv dy^vvtjTa Kara toOto Kal vaTSpovfTat tqO 
TfXfioi;. 

' IV. 39. 2, quomodo perfectus nuper effectus? quomodo immortalis, 
qui in natura mortali non obedivit ? qui fiiit inobediens Deo et projectus 
de immortalitate, iii. 20. i . 

' munus incorruptelae consecutus est... per Filium Dei earn quae est per 
ipsum percipiens adoptionem, iii. 10. 2. 



284 Psychology, Salvation, Future Hope [cH. 

" The perfect man consists of flesh, soul and spirit ; one 
of these saving and fashioning^ that is, the spirit ; the 
other being united and formed, that is, the flesh ; while 
that which lies between the two is the soul, which some- 
times follows the spirit and is raised by it, but at other 
times sympathizes with the flesh and is drawn by it into 
earthly passions." In the conclusion of this passage he, 
however, distinctly refers to the Spirit of God as that 
which saves and forms into life. In II. 33. 5, he speaks 
of a human spirit, saying : " All who are enrolled for life 
shall rise again having their own bodies, their own souls 
and their own spirits." But he continues, lapsing into 
dichotomy, " they who deserve punishment shall depart 
into it, having their own souls and bodies." In V. 6. i, 
he speaks of the threefold division of human nature — 
body, soul and spirit. No one of these by itself con- 
stitutes man. " But the blending and union of all three 
constitute a perfect man''." Does he mean that the bad 
have only body and soul, and not spirit? He quotes 
I Thess. V. 23, explaining that the perfect are those 
who present the three blameless to God ; and proceeds to 
say that " they are perfect who have the Spirit of God 
abiding in them and have preserved their souls and 
bodies blameless," as if the Spirit of God were something 
bestowed upon the good only and became a part of their 
nature, even their spirit. The dual basis is asserted plainly 
in the Preface to the fourth book (c. 3) : " Man is an 

1 At first sight it would seein that Irenaeus was expressing the theory 
that " the soul is form and doth the body make," that the soul or spirit is 
the living substance which has woven its own body as the spider his web, 
in opposition to the theory that the soul is the product of the forces of the 
material world, as heat issues from burning coals. But he proceeds 
"perfecti qui et Spiritum in se perseverantem habuerint Dei et animat 
et corpora sine querela servaverint." 

^ Commixtio autem et unctio horum omnium perfectum hominem 
efficit (v. 6. I ). 



xvi] Psychology, Salvation, Future Hope 285 

organism consisting of soul and flesh, which was formed 
after the likeness of God and was fashioned by His 
Hands ; that is by the Son and the Holy Spirit'." 

In II. 33. 1 etsq., he discusses the relation of the soul 
to the body, and emphasizes the supremacy of the soul, 
which he states is so far independent of the body that 
whatever it discerns by itself in dreams, by reflection or 
mental thought, though the body be quiescent, it can 
remember and report. " The soul teaches the body and 
imparts to it its spiritual vision." (Anima docet corpus 
et participat de spiritali ei facta visione^.) The soul is 
stronger than the body, ruling and regulating it (possidet 
et principatur corpori). The body is like an instrument, 
but the soul is like an artist. The slowness of the body 
retards the swiftness of the thought, just as the dull 
weight of the instrument delays the velocity of artistic 
intuition and gives rise to an adagio movement*. The 
soul never existed in other bodies, otherwise it would 
have knowledge of them. But as each of us receives his 
body through the operation of God, so he acquires his 
soul. " For God is not so poor in resources but that He 
can confer its own soul on each individual body, just as 
He confers its own form V The argument from memory 
is not, however, conclusive, as the somnambulist, though 
seemingly fully conscious and able to plan, during his 
walk, forgets all about it afterwards. 

The Divine spirit is confused or identified with the 

' homo temperatio animae et camis. 

' II. 33. 4. Cf. IV. 13. 2, "the soul cleanses the body," pet ipsam 
corpus voluntarie emundari docuit. 

3 corpus enim organo simile est ; anima autem artificis rationem obtinet. 
quemadmodum itaque artifex velociter quidem operationem secundum se 
adinvenit, in organo autem tardius illam perficit, propter rei subjectae 
immobilitatem, et illius mentis velocitas admixta tarditati organi tem- 
peratam perficit operationem. * II. 33. 5, xapuK-rttfo.. 



286 Psychology, Salvation, Future Hope [CH. 

human In V. 9. 2 : " Our Lord testified to the weakness 
of the flesh and the readiness of the spirit. If one then 
shall add the readiness of the Spirit, as it were, as a 
stimulus to the infirmity of the flesh, the inevitable 
result is that the strong controls the weak and the 
infirmity of the flesh is absorbed by the strength of the 
Spirit, and he who is such is no longer carnal but 
spiritual on account of the fellowship of the Spirit. The 
Spirit absorbing its infirmity takes the flesh unto itself, 
and a living man is made of both ; living because of his 
share of the Spirit, man because of the substance of the 
flesh. The flesh when without the Spirit of God is dead, 
being without life. But where the Spirit of the Father 
is, there is a living man.... The flesh possessed by the 
Spirit is, indeed, forgetful of itself, but assuming the 
character (qualitatem) of the Spirit is made conformable 
to the Word of God." If you remove the substance of 
the flesh, and consider the spirit only by itself, you have 
no longer a spiritual man but the spirit of a man or the 
Spirit of God. See also V. 6. i : " But when this spirit 
blended with the soul is united to the workmanship of 
God (the body), the man is rendered perfect and 
spiritual by reason of the outpouring of the Spirit, and 
such is he who was made in the image and likeness of 
God." In his explanation of the text (i Cor. 15. 50) 
'flesh and blood cannot inherit (^K\y)povon,7\aaC) the 
kingdom of God,' he points out that it is through the 
Spirit of God possessing and inheriting them, that our 
mortal limbs are translated into the kingdom of heaven^ 
It was with the object of preventing us from losing the 
Spirit, Who possesses us, and so losing our life that the 

1 TaCra hk KKrjpovoiJienai irb tov Ilve6iui.Tos, fteraifKpdii^i'a els t'^i' 
PaaCKeioM tS>v oipav&v, v. 9. 4. 



xvi] Psychology, Salvation, Future Hope 287 

Apostle exhorts us to have fellowship with the Spirit, 
saying with reason, ' flesh and blood cannot possess the 
kingdom of God,' as who should say, ' Do not err, for 
unless the Word of God dwelleth in you and the Spirit 
of the Father be in you, you shall have lived vainly and 
to no purpose, forasmuch as being this only, i.e. flesh 
and blood, you will not be able to possess the Kingdom 
of God'." 

In V. 12. 2 he distinguishes between the breath 
of natural life (Trvor\) and the breath of spiritual 
life (TTvev/ita), according to Is. xlii. 5^, the former being 
given to all people, while the Spirit only belongs to 
those who tread down earthly passions. " For it was 
necessary,'' he says, "that a human being should be 
fashioned first, and then that it should receive the soul, 
and afterwards the communion of the Spirit." In v. i. i, 
he writes : " The Lord redeemed us with His own blood, 
giving His soul for our souls, and His flesh for our flesh, 
and poured out the Spirit of the Father upon the union 
and communion of God and man." 

With regard to the image and likeness of God, he 
says : " If the Spirit should be wanting to the soul, he who 
is such is, indeed, psychical or soul-possessing (animalis), 
but is carnal, abandoned, and imperfect, having the image 
of God in his formation (plasma), but not yet receiving the 

^ Irenaeus follows the LXX. of .Is. xlii. 5 and Ivii. 16. The former 
runs in Hebrew, "Who giveth breath nDB'3 (LXX. irvoijy) and spirit TOT 
TTveOfia (flatum, spiritum Vg.)"; the latter "for the spirit (n-ll) should 
fail before me, and the souls (mOE'3) which I have made.'' The Hebrew 
Cjiar means to faint, languish. Fuerst renders " the spirit is weak before 
me" (LXX. i^eXeifferai, wrongly). The reference in preceding verse being 
to the "spirit of the humble," the spirit in Ivii. 16 cannot refer to the 
Spirit of God, as Irenaeus understands it, " rightly referring the Spirit to 
God Who poured it forth, through the adoption of sons, upon the human 
race" (V. 12. 2). 



288 Psychology, Salvation, Future Hope [ch. 

likeness which is given by the Spirits" The " image " 
here seems to be the original endowment of human 
nature, and the " likeness " its future state. The Word of 
God at His Incarnation restored both to man, " for He 
showed the 'image,' truly, having become that which 
was His own image Himself, and He established firmly 
the 'similitude' by making man like to the invisible 
Father through the visible Word'." This restoration is 
a very gradual process, but it is constant, for the Word 
" forms and prepares us for life, and is present with His 
handiwork and perfects it after the image and likeness 
of God V It is a remote ideal never to be realized until 
" the creature embraces the Word and ascends to Him, 
and rising above the angels, shall be made after the 
image and likeness of God " — the concluding words of 
the Treatise. In v. 8. i, he writes : " It is the universal 
grace of the Spirit that accomplishes the purpose of the 
Father, for it shall make man after the image and like- 
ness of God." 

Obedience on man's part is required, " for subjection 
to God means immortality, and the continuance of 
immortality is the glory of the Uncreated*." " By this 
orderly arrangement man, created in the image, develops 

in the likeness of the Uncreated God the Father 

planning and commanding, the Son working and ad- 
ministering, the Spirit nourishing and increasing, while 
the man makes slow but gradual progress, ever ascending 
to the Perfect, that is, drawing near to the Uncreated 
One." " But since man from the beginning is endowed 

' V. 6. I. According to the Schoolmen the "image" of God implies 
the higher mental faculties, the " similitude " the possession of the Spirit. 
See Adv. Haer. v. 1.5. 

" V. 16. -L. 2 V. x6. I. 

* IV. 38. 3. Greek SA|o i.yivv^TO% mistake for i.yivvi)Tov, Lat. infecti. 



XVI j Psychology, Salvation, Future Hope 289 

with a free will, and God in Whose similitude he was 
made has a free will, the advice is always given to the 
man to hold fast the good which is perfected by obedience 
to God^" Accordingly the sentence " Let us make man 
in our image and after our likeness" suggested to 
Irenaeus, as it afterwards did to Bishop Westcott, the 
promise and prophecy of the Incarnation, the coming of 
One Who should manifest both in a human life, restoring 
to man the possession of the one and the power of 
realizing the other. Origen^ says: '"In the image of 
God made He him ' means that man received the dignity 
of that image at the first creation, while the perfection 
of the likeness is kept for the consummation : that 
means that he should himself gain it by his own 
endeavour, since the possibility of perfection had been 
given to him at the first." 

Irenaeus gives, however, various answers to the 
question, " Wherein consists this likeness of God ? " In 
V. 6. I, it seems to consist in the possession of the Spirit 
(similitudinem assumens per Spiritum); in V. i. 3, in the 
receptivity of the Perfect Father'. " Man was made in 
the beginning a rational creature by the breath of God ; 
but in the end he was made a living and perfect man, 
able to embrace the perfect Father, by the Word of the 
Father and the Spirit of God united to the ancient 
substance of Adam's creation, that as in the psychical 
we all die, even so in the spiritual we may all be made 
alive. According to the Father's will His Hands made 
man living and perfect so that he should be a man (lit. 
Adam) after the image and similitude of God." But in 
IV. n. 4, the likeness consists in the freedom of the will. 

^ IV. 37. 4. ^ De PriHcip. III. 6. i. 

» perfectum effecit hominem, capientem perfectum Patrem. 

H. I. 19 



290 Psychology, Salvation, Future Hope [CH. 

" Since man had a free will from the beginning, and 
God, in Whose likeness he was made, has a free will, this 
advice is given to him." In IV, 37. i, he says the good 
are praised, because they performed the good when they 
had the power to refus^ to do so, and vice versa, treating 
freedom of choice as the basis of human responsibility 
and the underlying principle of merit and demerit. We 
all are responsible for our conduct. " For we all ha\-e the 
same nature, being able to retain and perform the good, 
and lose or avoid it. Some are justly praised among 
sensible men and much more by God, for their choice of 
what is universally good and for their perseverance, and 
others are blamed for the contrary. The prophets 
exhorted us to do what was right and just, because this 
lies in our power, and we need good counsel 'lest we 
forgets' " We cannot compel men to be good, but we 
may advise them. " There is no violence with God, but 
wisdom ever reigns with Him, therefore He gives good 
counsel to all''." " If any be unworthy to follow the 
Gospel, it lies in his power, but it is not expedient, to 
disobey. The advice is always given him to hold 
fast that which is good... Even in the exercise of his 
faith as well as in his conduct God has allowed man to 
be perfectly free'." Origen, like Irenaeus, also, as we 
have seen, insisted on freedom of will as the endowment 
of rational creatures, and though far from supporting the 
self-sufficiency afterwards known as Pelagianism, they 
both regarded the freedom of man as expressed in the 
image of God*. 

1 IV. 37. 2. 

' IV. 37. I , /S£o SeijJ ai wpb^eimv ■ iyadTi Se yviiiit) iravTOTe ffv/iTrdpea-nv 

^ IV. 37. 4, non tantum in operibus, sed etiam in fide, liberum et suae 
potestatis arbitrium hominis servavit Deus. 

* Of the soul Origen writes, " It draws and takes to itself the Word of 



xvi] Psychology, Salvation, Future Hope 291 

Freedom of will is a test of character. " For we have 
received freedom of will, in which condition a man's 
reverence, fear and love of God are more severely 
tested'." It brings additional responsibility. "For man, 
being endowed with reason and in this respect being like 
to God, is a perfectly free agent, with the power of self- 
determination, and is, therefore, responsible for the fact 
that he sometimes becomes wheat and sometimes chaffs" 
This freedom of will gives an ethical character to the 
Divine punishment, " for God always maintained both the 
freedom and self-government of man and His own 
precept, so that they who disobey may be justly judged 
for their disobedience, and that they who have obeyed 
Him and believed in Him may be rewarded with eternal 
life^" Each person has a free choice and unfettered 
judgement, while God exercises providence over all. 
Communion with God is the result of good moral 
choice ; separation from Him of the opposite*. The 
possession of freedom of moral choice divides man from 
the creation, for " all such things were made for the sake 
of the man who is being saved (homine qui salvatur)", 

God in proportion to its capacity and faith ; and when souls have drawn to 
themselves the Word of God, and have let Him penetrate their senses and 
their understandings, and have perceived the sweetness of His fragrance... 
filled with vigour and cheerfulness they hasten after Him " (in Cant. I.). 
TertuUian also considered the image and likeness of God to consist in 
freedom of will, "oportebat imaginem et similitudinem Dei, liberi arbitrii 
et suae potestatis institui, in qua hoc ipsum imago et similitudo Dei 
deputaretur, arbitrii scilicet libertas et potestas,'' c. Marc. II. 6. 

1 IV. i6. 5, libertatis potestatem acceperimus : in qua magis probatur 
homo si revereatur et timeat et diligat Dominum. 

" IV. 4. 3. 

' IV. 15. 1. 

* V. 27. 1, oijoi dtpiffTavTat. Korii ttjv yvtbfjL7]v aurtav tov SeoO roiirots tov 
air airov xw/nffM^" ^7rd7«...separavit semetipsum a Deo voluntaria sententia. 

° V. 29. 1, illud quod est sui arbitrii et suae potestatis maturans ad 
immortalitatem, et aptabiliorem eum ad aeternam subjectionem Deo 
praeparans (sc. Deus). 

19 — 2 



292 Psychology, Salvation, Future Hope [ch. 

God maturing for immortality that which is possessed of 
its own free will and power of self-determination, and 
preparing him (i.e. man) for the eternal obedience to 
God." This free will is given to him that he may choose 
the better course^. 

That possession is not only a responsibility, it is a 
stimulus to work, wherever it is recognized, just as its 
neglect fosters pessimism. " Therefore the Lord said, 
' The kingdom of heaven belongs to the violent,' that is, 
they who use strenuous endeavour and earnest vigilance 
take it by force. So St Paul said to the Corinthians, 
' So run that ye may obtain.' That excellent wrestler 
exhorted us to struggle for immortality, that we may 
win the crown which is attained by labour and does not 
grow of its own accord. The greater the struggle that 
wins it the more valuable it seems. For that which 
comes spontaneously is less beloved^ than that which is 
attained by a great eiifort. Since it was to our advantage' 
to love God more, both the Lord and the Apostle taught 
us to find this out with strenuous endeavour for ourselves. 
Otherwise this good gift (of free will) would surely be 
irrational^ because it would be undisciplined^" "For 
what enjoyment of the good can they have who ignore 
it .' What glory can they have who never sought it .' 

' IV. 39. I, "lit electionem meliorum facial." Cf. Ovid, M. 7. 21, 
video meliora pioboque, 
deteriora sequor. 

'^ oi5x o/M>lus iyatraTai. to, ix toD airo/iirov Tpojyu>6/iieva roTs /xeTO, 
cwovSiji eipuTKOfiivois (iv. 37. 7). 

^ pro nobis cannot mean pejies nos as Massuet. Grabe rightly interprets 
e re nostra. 

* insensatum bomim. Insensatus has a twofold sense in the Latin 
Irenaeus. In i. 20. i and II. 30. i it means foolish, dvcJi^ros. But in 
11. 14. 6 and 11. 30. 4 it is contrasted with sensibilia, e.g. sensibilia et 
insensata, i.e. oJirffijro Kal votfrA, as things for the intellect, intellectual 
matters. 

» IV. 37. 7. 



xvi] Psychology, Salvation, Future Hope 293 

And what crown can they possess who have not won it 
as victors in the struggle'? " 

The heresy known as Antinomianism has little 
support in these vigorous sentences. In iv. 37. 5, he 
maintains the advantages of free will against those who 
advocate a mechanical view of human nature and regard 
the autonomy of man as derogatory to the omnipotence 
of God. Such, he says, do themselves treat the Lord 
as if He were not all powerful, as if, forsooth. He were 
unable to accomplish what He willed, or as if, on the 
other hand, He were ignorant that those who are 
material by nature, to use their own jargon, are unable 
to receive His incorruptibility. But He should not 
have created angels, they say, capable of transgression 
or men capable of ingratitude. " Suppose this objection 
held good," Irenaeus argues, "virtue would lose its 
sweetness, communion with God its value, and men 
would never seek to attain to what is good when it 
would come without any effort or study on their part, 
but of its own accord and without their concern. And 
so goodness would be lightly prized, because men would 
be good by nature rather than from moral choice, good- 
ness being a matter of impulse, not of deliberate choice, 
and therefore they would not understand this very thing 
that virtue is beautiful in itself, and would consequently 
fail to enjoy it." 

f IV. 37. 6. ... 

2 choicus, material, xo""*' ^"d v\i.Kl>i are used without distinction, 
cf. 1. 6. I and I. 6. i. According to the Gnostics matter could not be saved, 
and therefore, they said, our Lord took nothing material upon Him. The 
psychical, however, being oi)Te|oi)ffios, endowed with freedom of will, may 
be saved, and therefore the Saviour took the psychical Christ from the 
Demiurge, but from the economy was clothed upon with a body of 
psychical essence only. Again they argued that as the material cannot share 
in salvation {t6 xo'tdK dSfoaroi' (riarriplas tieraffxe'^v), so the spiritual cannot 
see corruption, no matter what doings it may be connected with (l. 6. 2). 



294 Psychology, Salvation, Future Hope [ch. 

Irenaeus appears to have been as well acquainted 
with the psychology of the mind as he was with that 
of the will. In the first place he lays down the 
fundamental psychological distinction between God 
and man. Whereas the mental process in man, who 
is a composite creature, passes through many stages 
from perception to thought, from thought to reflection, 
and from reflection to reason^; with God, Who is 
untouched by passion, and is simple Being, the process 
is simple and uniform. For He is all mind, and all 
Spirit, all perception, all thought, all reason, all hearing, 
all eye, all light, and all source of every good^ Whereas 
in man the Logos proceeds from the Nous, "there is 
nothing before or after, nor any other distinction, with 
God, but He is all Nous, all Logos, all equal, similar, 
uniform, constant'." For God is all Mind and all Logos, 
what He thinks, that He speaks, what He speaks, that 
He thinks. For His thought is Logos, and Logos is 
mind, and the Father Himself is all-embracing mind*. 

He gives an interesting analysis of the hidden pro- 
cesses of the Nous or understanding which reminds one 
of Kant's transcendental Analytik. Perception, thought, 
intellectual perception, deliberation, examination of 
thought — all originate from the same understanding", 

' II. ■28. 4. 

^ II. 13' 3 (cf. I. 12. 2), et simplex, et non compositus et similimembrius 
(6jaoio/4e/M;s), totus sensus, totus spiritus, totus sensualitas, totus ennoea, 
totus ratio. Cf. II. 28. 4. 

' II. 13. 8, reading alterius in place aianterius. 

■> n. 28. 5. 

* 11. 13. 2. The first exercise of its powers with regard to anything is 
called ennoia (perception) : when this gains strength and time and embraces 
the whole soul, it becomes enthymesis (consideration). Consideration 
when it lingers over the same subject and is, as it were, approved, becomes 
intelligent perception (sensatio). This when it has been developed is 
termed deliberation (consilium) ; and the continued exercise of deliberation 
becomes the examination of thought (or judgement). 



xvi] Psychology, Salvation, Future Hope •ags 

but represent different stages of development. The 
underlying synthetic unity of knowledge is the Nous 
or understanding. " It controls these various processes, 
though itself invisible, it sends forth speech by means 
of the aforesaid processes, as the sun emits light by its 
rays, but is itself sent forth of none'." " The intellect of 
man, his thought and intention and other such things, 
are nothing but the soul {animd), and the operations 
and motions of the soul have no substance apart from 
the soul^" He does not make the ordinary mistake of 
confusing the mind with its functions or the personality 
with its phases, while recognizing that they cannot exist 
apart from it. Regarding knowledge in the sense of 
a full discernment of the whole series of causes, he refers 



"original synthetic unity of apperception" or "transcendental unity of 
apperception " in Kant. As distinguished from the fragmentary or em- 
pirical consciousness which accompanies the various representations, there 
is a consciousness of which one becomes aware when one combines these 
various, representations, and is conscious of the synthesis. When I say 
that they all belong to me, I mean that I am able to combine them by this 
mental synthesis into one whole — the synthetical unity of apperception. 
As distinguished from intuition which gives multiplicity, self-consciousness 
gives us unity : objects of the understanding are formed of groups of 
intuitions and presuppose an underlying unity of consciousness that unites 
and groups the material presented by the senses, the intuitions. See 
Kant's Kritik, Mahaffy and Bernard, p. 128 et sq. 

^ II. i(). 3. Cf. Aristotle, De Anima 411 a 16, "Knowledge is an 
attribute of the soul, so also are perception, opinion, desire, wish and 
appetency generally." In the next paragraph he insisted upon the unity 
of the soul. In 429 a 10, he says "it is by intellect (koCs) that the soul 
thinks and conceives, knows and understands," treating the vam as a 
"part" of the soul in the popular language of his day, for all mention of 
"parts" of the soul must be provisional according to 432 a 22 et sq. 
Substitute the word "man" for "soul" in the first passage in Aristotle, 
according to the precept 408 b 13, " it would be better not to say that the 
soul learns, but that the man does so with his soul," and in the passage in 
Irenaeus, and both are brought into line with the best modern psychological 
school according to which " the proper subject, that which acts or is acted 
on, is not the faculty or the organ but the Unitary Ego. The Ego knows ; 
the Ego wills ; the Ego feels ; three functions, of which the last alone is 
passive" (Martineau, Types of Ethical Theory, 11. 13). This is an im- 
provement upon the departmental conception of human nature. 



296 Psychology, Salvation, Fuhire Hope [ch. 

to the necessary limitations of the human reason and 
speculation which cause the reason to fall into antinomies 
and self-contradictions when it attempts to grasp the 
unseen, unrevealed and unconditioned. " Seeing that we 
know but in part, we should leave these general questions 
to Him Who gives us grace in part" (ill. 28. 7). 

We might consider Irenaeus an idealist in the modern 
sense, for he recognized a supernatural element in will, 
which is treated in the last instance as a Divine gift, 
and also in . knowledge. For the Nous, which may be 
regarded as the thinking Ego in this treatise, "is the 
source and origin, the fountain-head of all knowledge'." 

By this sound psychology he points us to the Word 
of God as the solution of all questions connected with 
the " pure reason " of Christianity. As Whichcote said, 
" Reason is the candle of the Lord, lighted by God, and 
lighting us to God," res illuminata illuminans. 

When dwelling on the Personality of God he did 
not conceive that he was limiting the Divine Life and 
Existence. The contrast between the ego and the non- 
ego in the case of man suggests limitatiori, but need not 
imply it in the case of Deity. The non-ego in the case 
of man not only defines the circumference but stimulates 
the activity of the ego. And, as Lotze points out°, a 
human person, as " he gradually incorporates the results 
of external stimuli in his memory and character, becomes 
in a measure self-sufficing, and can produce much both 
of thought and action without recourse to the external 
world." Thus what is "only approximately possible for 



' II. 13. I, nus enim est ipsum quod est principale, et summum, et 
velut piilicipium et fons universi sensus. 

* Microcosmus, IX. c. 4. See lUingworth's Pers<ynality Human aiid 
Divine, note 11. 



xvi] Psychology, Salvation, Future Hope 297 

the finite mind, the conditioning of its life by itself, 
takes place without limit in God, and no contrast of 
an external world is necessary for Him.'' God can, 
therefore, be conceived as personal without any reference 
to aught beyond Himself Indeed, in Him alone perfect 
personality is found. So Irenaeus held. In his system 
God is self-sufficing, omniscient, omnipotent, containing 
all things and of none contained \ and yet His is a distinct, 
definite, self-conscious existence. In relation to the 
Son the immeasurable Father is measured, " for the Son 
is the measure of the Father since He contains Him^" 
An expression which, as Harnack observes, "is by no 
means intended to denote a diminution, but rather to 
signify the identity of Father and Son." Origen* 
declares " we must say that the power of God is limited, 
for if the Divine power be unlimited, it cannot perceive 
itself" The self-determination and self-consciousness 
involved in the relation of the Father and Son make 
that Divine Nature intelligible to us. On the one hand, 
we are taught to realize the Divine likeness in man, 
and, on the other, we have the human ideal of an 
existence self-conscious and self-controlled in God. 
The conception of the Triune Personality, although 
inadequate, is not an unthinkable and unthinking ab- 
straction, whereas the undifferentiated unity of the 
Unitarian is unintelligible to us for whom only a self- 
conscious, self-distinguishing intelligence is intelligent. 

1 IV. II. 2, Deus perfectus in omnibus, ipse iibi aeqiialis et similis 
(imply self-consciousness), totus cum sit lumen et totus mens, et totus 
substantia et fons omnium l)onorum... semper idem est. 

^ IV. 4. 2, bene, qui dixit ipsum immensum Patrem in Filio men- 
suratuni: mensura enim Patris Filius, quoniam et capit eum. See 
Harnack, History of Dogma, II. 264. The Divine self-sufficiency is often 
expressed, e.g. ipse nuUius indigens, iv. 14. 2. 

' De Princ. 11. 9. 



298 Psychology, Salvation, Future Hope [ch. 



Salvation 

Irenaeus contributes many profound thoughts on 
the salvation and future hope of man. In III. 23. i, he 
declares that the whole economy of man's salvation had 
its origin in the goodwill of the Father, Who would not 
that His power should seem broken or His wisdom 
stultified \ Perfection is the end which God has in 
view for His people, and this end is accomplished by 
a system of Divine accommodation and instruction'. " In 
a multitude of ways God sought to bring the human 
race into the harmony of salvation'." This operation 
and economy God controlled Himself", and it was 
planned for the benefit of man', that all who believe 
in Him may advance and be perfected in salvation 
through the Testaments". This salvation has been 
sketched out by God as an artist'. It is one. For 
there is one salvation and one God, but there are 
many precepts which form a man, and not a few steps 

1 omnis dispositio salutis, quae circa hominem fiiit, secundum placitum 
fiebat Patris, uti non vinceretur Deus neque infirmaretur ars ejus. 

" IV. 37. 7, praefiniente Deo omnia ad hominis perfectionem et ad 
aedificationem et manifestationem dispositionum uti et bonitas ostendatur 
et justitia perficiatur; lu. 12. 11, earn quae est secundum Moysem legem 
et gratiam Novi Testament!, utraque apta temporibus, ad utilitatem humani 
generis; v. i. i, non aliter nos discere poteramus quae sunt Dei, nisi 
msgister noster, verbum exsistens, homo factus fuisset. 

' IV. 14. 2, multis modis componens humanum genus ad consonantiam 
salutis. 

* I. 10. 3, T7J1' irpayfiaTelav Kal olKovofilav tov Beov t^v (ttI rg avBponrlyTyfn. 
yevoiiivTiv, cf. IV. 36. 6, convocat ad salutem Pater. 

" IV. 20. 7, ad utilitatem hominum propter quos fecit tantas disposi- 
tiones, hominibus quidem ostendens Deum, Deo autem exhibens hominem. 
IV. 14. 2, He chose the patriarchs, /ro/^^r illorum salutmi. 

^ IV. 9. 3, ut possint semper proficere credentes in eum et per 
testamenta maturescere perfectum salutis ; cf. iv. 37. 7, et tandem 
aliquando maturus fiat homo in tantis maturescens ad videndum et 
capiendum Deum. 

' IV. 14. 2, fabricationem salutis, ut architectus, delineans. 



xvi] Psychology, Salvation, Future Hope • 299 

which lead to God'. The educating work of the law 
has already been described in chapter xi. The four 
"catholic covenants" or testaments of III. 11. 8 are but 
different educational processes in the scheme of God for 
man's salvation, culminating in the manifestation of the 
Incarnate Word. A new era was inaugurated when the 
Word arranged after a new manner His advent in the 
flesh, that He might restore our humanity which had 
departed from God to God^ The knowledge of salva- 
tion is the knowledge of the Son of God, Who is both 
Salvation and Saviour. He is Saviour because He is 
the Son and Word of God. He is saving (salutare) 
because He is Spirit ; and He is Salvation because He 
was fleshy Again he says " to follow the Saviour is 
to share in salvation^" " What God seeks from man 
is faith, obedience and righteousness for their own 
salvat^on^" It is, however, "impossible for man to be 
saved of himself; but with the help of God he can be 
saved ^" "Therefore the Word tabernacled in humanity, 
and became the Son of Man, that He might accustom 
man to receive God and God to dwell in man according 
to the Father's pleasured" " Neither can we be saved 
without the Spirits" Therefore, "we are made spiritual 
in Christ, laying down not the handiwork of God, but 
the desires of the flesh, and receiving the Holy Spirits" 

' IV. g. 3, una enim salus et unus Deus: quae autem formant hominem 
praecepta multa, et non pauci gradus qui ducunt hominem ad Deum. 
° III. 10. 2. ' III. 10. 3. 

* IV. 14. I, sequi enim salvatorem participare est salutem. 
^ IV. 17. 4, propter illorum salutem. 

' III. 10. 2, "for it was the Lord Himself who saved them, rum a nobis 
sed a Deo adjumento habuimus salvari. 

' III. 20. 2, ut assuesceret hominem percipere Deum et assuesceret 
Deum habitare in homine. 

* V. 9. 2, sine Spiritu Dei salvari non possumus. 

^ V. 12. 3, 7r/30(rXoj86i'Tes rh IIveC/Mt tA 617101'; V. 12. 1,, irpoffXo/36;iiepos 
t4 fwoTTOioCi' TTvev/m eJpi}crei ttji' j^ur/iv. 



300 Psychology, Salvation, Future Hope [ch. 

" The Spirit envelops man within and without and never 
leaves Him." " With Him we must live in fellowship, 
lest losing Him we lose life\" "By the Spirit we 
obtain the similitude of God S" and "shall be perfectly and 
effectually made, after the image and likeness of God'." 
But as man is a free agent, his cooperation is required. 
Man must repent and be converted to God*. " Man 
must be just and holy and keep His commandments 
and abide in His love'." He must "fear God, believe 
in the Incarnation, and have the Spirit of God established 
by faith in his heart*." He must desire the light if he 
wishes to enjoy it, "guard the form in which he has 
been made by keeping his heart soft and tractable'." 
" And man must in addition to his calling be adorned 
with the works of righteousness, that the Spirit may 
rest upon him'." 

If we imitate His actions, and perform His words, we 
shall have communion with Him'*. " He who abides in 
the deeds of the flesh is carnal, because he does not 
receive the Spirit of God, and cannot possess the Kingdom 
of heaven, but the man who shall improve and produce the 



1 ibid. 2 V. 6. 1. 3 V. 8. i. 

* in. lo. 3, agnitionemsalutisfaciebat Johannes poenitentiamagentibus, 
cf. Vg. Mt. 3. 2, poenitentiam agite; l. 10. 1, Tofs Si iK /ieroKoios foifji' 
Xapurii>iei'os. Public confession of notorious sins was sometimes required, 
eis (pavepov i^OfioXoyoOvTai (I. 13. 7). Those who like the devil and his 
angels persist in evil works sine poenitentia et sine regressu will be 
punished with him in eternal fire, III. 23. 3, IV. 40. 1. But for those 
who repent and are converted to Him God maketh peace and friendship 
and at-one-ment (^waiv awTi64fievos), IV. 40. 1. In IV. 37. 1 he quotes 
Rom. ii. 4, "the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance." 

* I. 10. I. 

* V. 9. I, per fidem constituunt in cordibus suis Spiritum. 
' IV. 39. 2. 

' cum vocatione et justitiae operibus adornari uti requiescat super nos 
Spiritus Dei, IV. 36. 6. 

' V. I. I, ut imitatores quidem operum, factores autem sermonum ejus 
facti, communionem habeamus cum Ipso. 



xvi] Psychology, Salvation, Future Hope 301 

• 

fruit of the Spirit is being saved in every way on account 
of the fellowship of the Spirit.... The things that save, 
he says (St Paul), are the name of our Lord Jesus 
Christ and the Spirit of our God\" "There is glory 
and honour to every man that worketh good^" and 
peace of soul with God and friendship with Him and 
At-one-ment for those who repent and are converted 
unto God'. 

In his ethical and religious system of salvation 
Irenaeus insists upon certain fundamental principles. 
He recognized that salvation is a process, a growth'', 
a gradual development in the grace of a new spiritual 
life, which is obtained through the life-giving Spirit, and 
which is lived in communion with the Father and the 
Son, and in the fellowship of the Divine Spirit, Who 
confers spiritual peace, knowledge, and immortality and 
life upon the soul. To enjoy this life one must repent of 
one's sins, turn to God, control one's evil desires, assume 
the Spirit of God, bring forth the fruit of the Spirit : 
and walk in newness of life and in obedience to God^ 
There is no doubt that Irenaeus lays a certain stress 
upon an obedient and an active faith, but he also 
emphasizes the necessity of receiving the Spirit of God 
in order to live the new life that is hidden with Christ 
in God. It is not correct to say that "with Irenaeus 
the practical life seems to have its source, at least 
according to the form in which he expresses it, in the 

' V. II. I, quod non assumat Spiritum Dei...m melius profecerit et 
fructum opera tus fuerit Spiritus omni modo salvatur propter Spiritus 
cotnmunionem...ea autem quae salvant, ait esse nomen Domini nostri Jesu 
Christi et Spiritum Dei nostri. 

" Rom. ii. 10, IV. 37. 1. 

' IV. 40. I, ft'wo-o' <rui'Ti9^/ievot= making at-one-ment. 

' Notice use of maturescere and maturus iv. 9. 3 and iv. 37. 7 in this 
connection. 

5 V. 9. 2. 



302 Psychology, Salvation, Future Hope [ch, 

man himself, and the impulse is furnished by the 
certainty that each individual act is to be rewarded or 
punished by God in accordance with its nature' " ; for he 
expressly says that man cannot be saved of himself 
without the help of God, and without the Spirit of God^ 
Neither is it quite fair to Irenaeus to say that " it was 
chiefly as a temporal event that the results of the for- 
giveness of sins were regarded'." Such an explanation 
could hardly be given of the passage in V. 12. 2, "Just 
as he who was made a living soul lost his life by 
following the worse course, so the same man by 
returning to the better course and receiving the life- 
giving Spirit — 'the Spirit of the remission of sins by 
Whom we are quickened*' — shall find life." Forgiveness 
in this system counteracts the results of sin that destroys 
the life by causing man to lose the life-giving Spirit, 
and prevents man from attaining the perfection of 
salvation =, the spiritual likeness of God in Christ, and 
the eternal possession of His Spirit. And the results of 
forgiveness are peace of soul, the friendship and fellow- 
ship of God, the presence of His Spirit in our lives, and 
the walking in newness of life*. Surely this forgiveness 

' Stewart Means, St Paul and the Antt-Nicene Church, p. 188. This 
statement like others in this work is due to hasty generalization, e.g. he 
also says, "Irenaeus nowhere speaks of prayer," p. 189, but see 11. 32. 5 
where he describes the efficacy of the Church's prayer; IV. 18. 6, "There 
is an altar in heaven, thither our prayers are directed," his own beautiful 
prayer for his readers. III. 6. 3, and IV. 17. 5, "Incense, as John says in 
the Apocalypse, is \.\ie prayers of the Saints." 

^ III. 20. 2, V. 9. 2. 

^ So Werner, Der Paulinismus des Ireniius, S. 144: "Die Sunde 
Vergebung ist bei Iren. aus einer religiosen Thatsache zu einem historischen 
Ereigniss im Leben des Menschen geworden. Sie ist einraaliger Act den 
der Mensch erleidet, nicht eine stete Gottestat, die er immer von neuem 
in ihrer beseligenden Kraft wieder erfahrt." 

^ Spiritum remissionis peccatorum per quern vivificamur. 

5 maturescere perfectum salutis, IV. 9. 3 : maturescens ad videndum et 
capiendum Deum, iv. 37. 7, v. 36. 2. 

• in novitate vitae ambulemus, obedientes Deo, v. 9. i. 



xvi] Psychology, Salvation, Future Hope 303 

• 

is a religious factor in man's spiritual life and has 
reference primarily to his internal state. 

In this salvation there is no distinction of Jew and 
Gentile^. He says, however, that the former had the 
advantage over the latter, having already in their law 
the principles of morality and the unity of God, which 
the Gentiles do not yet understands As theologians 
of the Middle Ages hotly debated the question whether 
Samson, Solomon and Origen were saved, there was 
a controversy in the second century regarding the 
salvation of Adam. In this discussion Irenaeus main- 
tained the affirmative while Tatian held the negative^ 
Irenaeus also believed that salvation was, theoretically, 
not merely universal but also comprehensive, embracing 
the whole man, body, soul and spirit. The flesh shares 
in the salvation of the man. " It assumes the quality 
of the Spirit, when possessed by the Spirit, and is made 
conformable to the Word of God^" The limbs that are 
possessed by the Spirit are translated into the kingdom 
of Gods Irenaeus evidently held that there was some 
process by which the flesh was absorbed in the strength 
of the Spirit, was drawn up into it, and lost the memory 
of itself in the new life of the Spirits In this way the 
clay that is in us is concealed by the work of God'. At 
the resurrection man is not simply reanimated; he is 

^ III. 5. 3, in unum coUegit et univit eos qui longe et eos qui prope, 
hoc est circumcisionem et praeputiationem, dilatans Japhet et constituens 
eum in domo Sem, see Eph. ii. 17; cf. IV. 25. i, in unatn fidem Abrahae 
colligens eos qui ex utroque Testamento apti sunt in aedificationem Dei. 

' IV. 24. 2, quapropter plus laborabat qui in gentes apostolatura 
acceperat quam qui in circumcisione praeconabat. 

3 I. 28. I, III. 22. 2, III. 23. 7, etc. 

* V. 9. 2. ' V. 9. 4. 

'v. 9. 2, Spiritus nirsus absorbens infirmitatem haereditate possidet 
carnem in se...caro a Spiritu possessa oblita sui. 

7 IV. 39. 2, ab artificio Dei absconditur quod est in te lutum. 



304 Psychology, Salvation, Future Hope [ch. 

renewed, his form is other (praetereunte figura hac, 
renovato homine, V. 36. i). 

At the same time he was restrained from any 
speculations of his own on the subject by his present 
controversy with the Gnostics, who denied the redemp- 
tion of the body : " If the flesh be not saved," he argues, 
" our Lord did not redeem us with His blood," neither 
is the cup of the Eucharist the communion of His Blood, 
nor is the bread we break the communion of His Body^. 
" The Lord came to save the substance of the flesh, that 
as in Adam all die, being psychical, in Christ we may 
live because spirituals" He also maintains that as our 
bodies are nourished by the Eucharist, which is the 
Body and Blood of Christ, and which consists of the 
fruits of the earth, bread and wine, which receiving the 
Word of God become a Eucharist, so " when they have 
been placed in the ground and have suffered dissolution ■ 
in it, they shall arise at the proper time, the Word of 
God giving them a resurrection to the glory of our God 
and Father'." He is careful to insist that we have not life 
in ourselves, of our own nature, but of God's excellent 
greatness*. He evidentl)' intends a parallel to be drawn 
between the bread and wine which receiving the Word 
of God {irpocrkafi^avoiJieva rbv \6yov rov Qeov) becomes 
a Eucharist and our humanity which after receiving the 
Spirit of God {nrpo&\a^6(ievo<; to ^coottoiovv Trvev/Ma^) 
becomes here endowed with life and is raised by the 
Word of God hereafter. " But the fruit or result of the 
work of the Spirit is the salvation of the flesh. For what 
other apparent result is there of the Spirit, Who is not 
apparent, than the rendering of the flesh ripe for and 

' V. i. 1. 2 V. 12. 3. 3 v_ 2 J. 

* V. 'i. 3, ix T^s iirepoxvs- ° V. 12. 2. 



xvi] Psychology, Salvation, Future Hope » 305 

capable of immortality^" ? "As our Lord pierced the 
shades of death where the souls of the dead are, and 
after His resurrection was taken up into heaven, so the 
souls of His disciples shall withdraw into the invisible 
place appointed for them by God and there shall await 
the resurrection, and after it, receiving back their bodies, 
and rising in their entirety, that is, in the body as the 
Lord arose, shall so come into the presence of God I" 
The flesh must share, he insists, in the salvation and 
resurrection of man. " For God raising our mortal 
bodies that keep righteousness, will render them immortal 
and incorruptible, for He is stronger than nature, and 
has in Himself the Will because He is good, the power 
because He is Almighty, and the accomplishment 
because He is resourceful and perfects" 

Sorrow and death play an important part in the 
salvation of man. " Tribulation is necessary " — he writes 
with a reference to its literal meaning and derivation 
from tribulum, a threshing machine — " for those who are 
in a state of salvation, that so being, as it were, broken 
up, made fine and well kneaded {conspersi) or leavened 
through suffering by the Word of God, they may be 

' V. 12. 4, maturam efficere carnem et capacem incorruptelae. This 
seems to imply some change in this life preparatory to the life eternal 
owing to a participation in Deity, "si quaedam salvat propter suam 
participationem, quaedam autem non" (n. 29. i). 

' V. 31. 2, repi/jJvovirat riiv iviffTaaiv, a more suggestive phrase is in 
V. 5. i, irpooiiuatofiiyovs tt]v k^Bapalav of the souls in Paradise who are 
making a prelude or a preparation there of their immortality. He calls it 
refrigerii locus in 11. 29. i: cf. iv. 27. 4 where he has refrigerium 
(Vg. requiem) in 2 Thess. i. 7. 

' II. 29. I, corpora nostra custodientia justitiam, cf. IV. 39. 2, custodi 
iiguram qua te figuravit'artifex...custodiens compaginationem (the joining) 
ascendes ad perfectum...ordinem hominis custodire deinde, paiticipare 
gloriae Dei. An excellent simile drawn from modelling in clay of the 
relation of the work of God to the cooperation of man in man's salvation, 
considered as the workmanship of God. Righteousness is evidently the 
moisture he refers to there, "habens in temetipso humorem ne induratus 
amittas vestigia digitorum ejus." 



3o6 Psychology, Salvation, Future Hope [ch. 

kindled with enthusiasm and prepared for the banquet 
of the King. As one of us said in the arena when con- 
demned to die, ' I am the wheat of God, and am being 
ground by the teeth of wild beasts that I may be found 
the pure bread of God'.' " These sentences on the sacra- 
mental efficacy of personal suffering find a modern echo 
in Longfellow's translation from the German : 

The mills of God grind slowly, but they grind exceeding small; 
So soft and slow the great wheels go, they scarcely move at all, 
But the souls of men fall into them, and are powdered into dust, 
And in the dust grow three sweet flowers. Love — Hope — Trust ; 

and are ascribed to Ignatius in the Greek Acts of that 
martyr^. 

With regard to death he wrote : " For God set a 
bound to the sin of man by the interposition of death, 
and thus caused sin to cease, putting an end to it by the 
dissolution of the flesh which was to take place in the 
ground, so that man, ceasing to live to sin, should begin 
to live to God'." And death, the blow received in Adam, 
shall be healed by the resurrection. It is emptied of its 
sting and power by Christ*. " But it is the duty of the 
Christian to study how to die=." 

In conclusion, salvation in this system included the 
full realization of all that God intended man to become 
in body, soul and spirit. Development in this direction 
was arrested by the sin of man, but received a new 
starting-point from the Incarnation of the Word, and 
will be carried still further when man, embracing the 
Word of God, shall ascend to Him, rising above the 
angels and attaining the image and likeness of God". 

' V. 28. 3. ' I" the Bodleian library. 

» HI. 23. 6. * III- n- 7- 

' Frag. XI. (Harvey). " v. 36. 2. 



xvi] Psychology, Salvation, Future Hope , 307 

Then the Church shall be fashioned after the image of 
His Son' and men shall ascend "ad perfectum^." 

Tke Future Hope. 

The eschatology of Irenaeus was strongly coloured by 
material views of a millennium. He had not outgrown 
the carnal hopes of an earthly kingdom that were founded 
on the Jewish expectations of a Messianic realm incor- 
porated in the Apocalyptic literature of the Jews and the 
Apocalypse of the New Testament, and fostered in the 
village communities of Asia Minor. Justin Martyr, an 
advocate of these views, allows that they were not accept- 
able to many Christians of pure and devout mind. 

Irenaeus sets forth his opinion on these matters in 
his last book. The five chapters 32 — 37 of this book 
were not found in the manuscripts used by Erasmus, but 
were unearthed by Feuardent, who asserted that they 
were from the hand of Irenaeus and that they had been 
omitted on account of their pronounced chiliastic views ^ 
They are only in the Voss MS., and Stieren states that 
there is a marginal note by a later hand in that MS. to the 
effect that what follows even to the end is wanting in all 
copies. They display a curious blending of the mystical 
and the material in the expositions of the book of Daniel 
and the Apocalypse, but are not without a certain interest. 

1 IV. 37. 7, ecclesia ad figuram imaginis Filii coaptetur. 

2 IV. 39. 2, custodiens compaginationem ascendes ad perfectum. 

» The last two books of this treatise have been found in an Armenian 
translation along with the Apostolic Preaching, and presumably these last 
chapters. Ch. HI. of the tract concludes with a clear echo of the conclusion 
of the treatise on the ascent of man: "damit wir nicht der gestorbenen 
Menschen sondern des ewigen und besfandigen Gottes Kmder seien; 
damlt das Ewige und Bestandige (in uns?) Gott werde und hoch uber 
einem jeden der Gewordenen stehe, und ihm AUes unterstellt werde" 
(Hamack's edition). 



3o8 Psychology, Salvation, Future Hope [CH. 

For instance, in V. 30. 3 we have the earliest attempt on 
record to interpret the number of the beasts The 
number 666 is, according to him, the representation 
of the summing-up of all the wickedness which took 
place in the world, i.e. the Apostasia. In V. 30. i he 
mentions another reading, 616, which he considers the 
result of a copyist's error. In c. 25 he describes the 
pomp and parade of this tyranny of Antichrist in the 
words of DanieP, and in c. 26 continues the subject with 
the additional light of the Apocalypse of St John. The 
conclusion is stated in V. 26. 2, where he appeals, as in 
his Apostolic Preaching, to the argument from prophecy 
as final. Other prophecies have been fulfilled, why 
should not these things come to pass .' He quotes the 
saying of Justin, that " Satan had never dared to blas- 
pheme God before the Incarnation, for he was not aware 
before that event of his own condemnation." 

The Judgement is described in V. 27. i. Christ 
returned for the ruin of those who do not believe in Him, 
and they shall receive a worse punishment than Sodom 
and Gomorrha, but for the resurrection of those who 
believe and do the will of the Heavenly Father. The 
fate of the ungodly is not annihilation but eternal sepa- 
ration. "Their punishment has been self-chosen and 
self-inflicted. The man who chooses sin by his own act 
separates himself from God ; but he that believeth is 
united with God by faith... .The good is eternal and 
without end in God. The loss of such must be 
eternal'." 

According to Valentinus, Christ separates the spiri- 
tual man from the material man, and saves the spiritual 
class alone. Origen would have all spirits finally saved 
' Rev. xiii. 18. ' c. 7. ' v. 27. ^. 



xvi] Psychology, Salvation, Future Hope ♦ 309 

and glorified, in order to serve in a non-sensuous sphere. 
But Irenaeus would separate the good from the evil, the 
former being reunited with Christ in eternal glory, and 
the rest left in outer darkness which is eternal. The 
punishment is not inflicted by God directly' but follows 
them on account of their loss of what is good. 

Then shall Antichrist be destroyed, and the Sabbath 
of the Lord, the thousand years of the rule of the saints, 
shall be ushered in. " This earthly kingdom is the 
beginning of incorruption. By means of it they who 
are worthy are gradually accustomed to comprehend 
God. The righteous must first rise again in this crea- 
tion, which is renovated, rising in order to serve God, 
and rule in the promised inheritance ; and then the 
Judgement shall take place. For it is fitting that in the 
very creation in which they toiled and suffered and were 
proved every way by afflictions, they should obtain the 
reward of their endurance, and that where they were 
slain they should recover life, and should rule where 
they were held in thraldom. For God is rich in every- 
thing and all things belong to Him^" The promise to 
Abraham of land which he was to inherit with his seed, 
that is, those who' fear God and believe in Him ("For 
his seed is the Church through the adoption of the 
Lord," V. 32. 2), the benediction of Jacob,' and the mention 
of the fruit of the vine*, are pressed into the argument, 

' ibid. Trfiat\Yi\Ti.KSi%. In this passage he speaks of the punishment of 
sin as self-inflicted and as of a negative kind, such as the blinding of one's 
own eyes prevents one from seeing the sun. But in V. 27. i he spoke of 
the aetemus ignis, prepared for the devil and his angels, the ignis inex- 
tinguibilis and the ruina of the evil, punishment of a positive kind. In 
V. 28. I he combines both forms: "iUos in aeternum ignem missurum 
(sc. Verbum Dei). Semetipsos enim omnibus privaverunt bonis," and seems 
to waver between the popular and materialistic view of punishment and 
the ethical and spiritual view. 

» V. 32. 1. ' V. 32. 2. « V. 33. I. 



3IO Psychology, Salvation, Future Hope [ch. 

which terminates with the words of Papias regarding the 
vines with a thousand branches, etc' He concludes 
with a list of prophecies from Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, 
Daniel, Baruch, and the Apocalypse of St John. 

In the last chapter (36) he completes his sketch of 
the progress of man in the future life and in the way of 
incorruption. " For since men are real theirs must be 
a real establishment. They do not vanish into non- 
existence, but progress among existent things. Neither 
the matter nor the substance of creation is annihilated", the 
form alone passes. When this fashion has passed away and 
man has been renewed and advances vigorously towards 
incorruption, so that he shall no longer grow old, there 
shall be the new heaven and the new earth, in which the 
man shall remain ever new among the new, always 
holding communion with God." " As the presbyters say : 
' Then they who have proved worthy of an abode in 
Heaven shall go there ; some shall possess the glory of 
the city, and others the delight of Paradise, for every- 
where the Saviour shall be seen as they who see Him 
shall prove worthy.' This they say is the distinction 
between the habitation of those who produce sixtyfold 
and thirtyfold. These presbyters, the disciples of the 
Apostles, declare that such is the orderly progress of 
those who are being saved and that it is by steps of this 
kind that we advance. They also say that we ascend 
through the Spirit to the Son and through the Son to 
the Father ; and that, then, the Son will place the work 
in the Father's hands. ' The last enemy that shall be 
destroyed is death.' For in the times of the kingdom 



' V. 33. 3. 

* Irenaeus was aware of the indestructibility and transmutation of 
matter and doubtless of the conservation of energy. 



xvi] Psychology, Salvation, Future Hope .311 

the righteous man shall forget to die... .So shall the 
creation contain and be contained by the Word, and 
man shall rise higher than the angels, ascending to the 
Word, and he shall be made after the image and likeness 
of God'." So shall we value the Divine purpose of our 
existence, for we shall share his glory' and we shall 
have immortality'. With this splendid conception of 
spiritual advance in the future life we may compare the 
thought of Whichcote : " I am apt to think that in the 
heavenly hereafter, when God shall otherwise declare 
Himself than He doth, those latent powers which now 
we have, may open and unfold themselves, and thereby 
we may be able to act in a far higher way." 

1 V. 36. 3. 

^ IV. 14. I, Dominus qui formavit et ad hoc praeparavit nos ut dum 
sumus cum eo participemus gloriae ejus. See whole passage. 

' IV. 4. 3, temporalia fecit propter hominem ut maturescens in eis 
fructificet Iramortalitatem. 



CHAPTER XVII 

THE APOSTOLIC PREACHING 

It seems to be the fate of the writings of Irenaeus'to 
be preserved only in translations and quotations. We 
are, however, grateful to those whose studies have pre- 
served them, even in that manner. While the treatise 
was his magnum, opus, a letter dedicated to one Marcianus, 
and containing a proof of the Apostolic teaching, was 
among his writings mentioned by Eusebius^- An Ar- 
menian version of this was discovered in 1904 in the 
library of the church at Erivan, by an Armenian priest, 
who, with a colleague, edited the text, with a German 
translation, highly commended by Dr Harnack and 
published by him in Texte und Untersuchungen, 1907. 
With regard to the Armenian translation, Dr Conybeare 
says that he has not the least doubt that it belongs 
to the golden age of that literature, and is as old as 
450 A.D. He cannot understand why the editor places it 
so late as 650 to 750, still less how he can for a moment 
doubt that a Greek original rather than a Syriac under- 
lies it. " From beginning to end it shows none of the 
Syriac forms so frequent in Armenian versions made from 
the Syriac, such as those of the History of Eusebius and 
of the Homilies of Aphraatl" The Armenian version 

1 H.E. V. 26. ^ Expositor, July 1907. 



CH. xvii] The Apostolic Preaching 513 

also contains the last two books against the Heresies. 
In IV. 7. I of that version the Magnificat is assigned to 
Elisabeth, in agreement with the Clermont and Voss 
MSS. of the Latin and Niceta of Remesiana. The Greek 
title of the tract in Eusebius' is et? i-rriBei^iv rov 
aTToaToXiKov KTjpvyfiaToi;, " For a demonstration of the 
Apostolic Preaching.'' In Adv. Haer. II. 35. 4 he refers 
to " Apostolorum dictatio " among other branches of 
catechetical instruction, such as " Domini magisterium," 
" prophetarum annuntiatio " and " legislationis minis- 
tratio.'' And in c. 45 of this tract he refers to the 
Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, which might possibly be 
the well-known DidacM, although Dr Harnack does not 
think so. This tract is saturated with the expressions 
and ideas of the treatise. He refers to "the economy 
of our redemption'' " and the " economy of the incarna- 
tionV' of which he had spoken in Adv. Haer. I. 10. i, 
and says " the holy oil " of Ps. xlv. is the Holy Spirit 
with Whom Christ is anointed*, while in the treatise, 
III. 18. 3, he writes: "The Father anointing, the Son 
anointed, and the Spirit the Unction." " All the principal 
points of the religious teaching of the Adv. Haer. are to 
be found here," writes Dr Harnack. " They were not 
theology but religion to Irenaeus." Echoes of the 
Gnostic controversy are heard now and again, but the 
chief object of the book is to point out how Judaism 
leads up to and proves Christianity. The Jews are, 
indeed, the great proof of Christianity. " The Jews, Sir! " 
Marcianus seems to have been wavering between the 
two. The tract itself throws no new light upon 
the life of the great bishop, but it shows how systematic 
was his mind and how deep and kindly was his interest 
1 V. 26. * c. 47. " c. 99. ■» c. 47. 



314 The Apostolic Preaching [ch. 

in his people. And as Dr Harnack says, " We learn 
from it how strong and living were the thoughts which 
he had developed in his work Adversus Haereses." 

We have an allusion to the treatise in c. 99 of the 
tract, where he indicates the three groups of heresies 
concerning God the Father, God the Son and God the 
Holy Ghost, which he says he has exposed in "the 
Refutation and Detection of so-called science." The 
tract was, therefore, written after his great treatise. 
There is also a reference to the political situation and 
the state of the Church in c. 48, where he speaks of 
"kings who now hate Him and persecute His name," 
an allusion to the persecution of Severus, so that the 
just inference is that the tract was composed about that 
time. The Scriptural quotations are chiefly from the 
Old Testament. Some of these are after the version 
of Justin, and in some places similar to the LXX, but 
in others they show independence and closer relation 
to the Hebrew'. One fact of interest connected with 
the phrasing of the tract is the use of Justin's works. 
There are also many affinities, literary and spiritual, with 
our Church Catechism. The work itself consists of (i) 
Introduction, (2) the history of the revelation of God and 
of His plan for man's salvation from the Creation to the 
entry into Canaan, (3) the prophecies from the Psalms, 
Isaiah, Jeremiah and the minor prophets concerning 
Christ, (4) Conclusion and Summary. 

The introduction contains the address to Marcianus, 
whose faith he desires to confirm, and, accordingly, he 
sends him this little book, " the preaching of the truth," 
to have by him as a concise account of all the articles 

' Ste Journal of Theological Studies, Se.^t. 1907, Article: " The Apostolic 
Preaching of Irenaeus," by the present writer. 



xvii] The Apostolic Preaching 315 

of the faith, or, as Irenaeus describes it, " all the members 
of the body of truth." Marcianus may have had a tendency 
to lapse back into Judaism. Irenaeus says rather 
pointedly in c. 95, " We dare not return to the first 
legislation," and the whole trend of his argument is to 
prove that the promises to Abraham were fulfilled in 
Christ and inherited by the Gentiles. The prophets, 
therefore, rather than the Gospels, are laid under con- 
tribution. The anti-Judaic character of the book may 
also reflect the style of the earliest catechisms of the 
Christian Church, and may be compared in this regard 
with Justin Martyr's Apologia. Prof Rendel Harris 
would refer this instruction back to an original work 
against the Jews entitled Testimonies against the Jews'^. 

The aim of the tract is not merely to inculcate 
correct belief, but also right conduct. It touches the 
practical side, while the treatise is rather concerned 
with the speculative side of religious life. The tract, 
however, throws an interesting light on his doctrine 
of the Trinity^ That is the basis of the work', as 
it is of the Church Catechism. Like that Catechism, 
it also insists on personal purity as well as on true 
belief*. And, like the Catechism, it places Holy 
Baptism in the forefront of the instruction ^ The 
second chapter concludes with a description of the 
heretics : " They sit in the seat of the wicked, and 
corrupt those who receive the poison of their teaching." 
And then he proceeds to say, " Now, in order that we 
suffer not such (poison), we must hold the canon of the 
Faith steadfastly, and perform the commandments of 

> Expositor, March 1907. 

' Hermathena 1907, Apostolic Preaching of Irenaeus and its Light on 
his Doctrine of the Trinity, by the present writer. 

» See Chapter 6. * c. 2. ° c. 3. 



3i6 The Apostolic Preaching [cH. 

God, believing in God and fearing Him as He is Lord, 
and loving Him as our Father. Doing proceeds from 

believing And now whereas the faith is the constant 

preserver of our salvation, it is necessary to pay much 
attention to it, that we may gain a true insight into the 
realities. It is the faith that gives us this, the faith as 
the elders, the disciples of the Apostles', have handed it 
down to us. First of all it teaches us to remember 
that we have received Baptism for the forgiveness of 
sins in the Name of God the Father, and in the Name 
of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Who became incarnate, 
and died and rose again, and in the Holy Spirit of God, 
and that this Baptism is the seal of everlasting life and 
regeneration into God ; so that we are the children of the 
everlasting God''; and that the eternal and constant God 
may be in us... and that God may be the sovereign of 
all and that all may be of God." " Therefore," he writes 
in c. 7, "the baptism of our regeneration proceeds through 
these three points, while God the Father graciously^ leads 
us* by means of His Son through the Holy Spirit to 
our regeneration. For they who carry the Spirit of God 
in themselves are led to the Word, that is, to the Son ; 
but the Son leads them to the Father, and the Father 
allows them to receive incorruption°." 

Compare with these words the answers in the first 
part of the Catechism, especially : " In my Baptism, 
wherein I was made a child of God" ; "That I should 

' Cf. Adv. Haer. v. 36. 1. The presbyters, the disciples of the 
Apostles. 

^ Cf. "the Gospel of our adoption" (Kindschaft), t. 8. 

3 Cf. 8, God is "barmherzig, gnadig, huldreich." 

* begnadet, gnade= gratia. Cf. xapurifi-ivos &<p$ap<rlav (as act of grace) 
(I. 10. I). 

*■ Cf. Adv. Haer. V. 36. 2, per Spiritum quidem ad Filium, per Filium 
autem ascendere ad Patrem ; IV. 20. 5, Spiritu praeparante hominem in 
Filium Dei, Filio adducente ad Patrem, Patre autem incorruptelam donnate. 



xvii] The Apostolic Preaching 3J7 

renounce the devil and all his works... and all the sinful 
lusts of the flesh '' ; " that I should believe all the articles 
of the Christian faith, that I should keep God's holy will 
and commandments, and walk in the same all the days 
of my life " ; "I heartily thank our heavenly Father 
that He hath called me to this state of salvation through 
Jesus Christ our Saviour. And I pray unto God to 
give me His grace that I may continue in the same 
unto my life's end." Also notice that the Catechism 
bases right conduct on right belief, and rehearses the 
Creed before the Commandments. Similarly Irenaeus 
in cc. 4, 5, 6 gives a summary, with explanations, of the 
true faith in God the Father, God the Son and God the 
Holy Spirit. This, he says, " is the canon of our belief, 
the foundation of our building and the security of our 
walk" : cf. "walk in the same all the days of my life" : 
while the conclusion of the tract, cc. 87 — 100, which 
Dr Harnack pronounces the most important portion of 
the work, is an expansion of the words of Matthew 
xxii. 37 : " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all 
thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind," 
"and the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy 
neighbour as thyself" — which are also expanded in 
" my duty towards God " and " my duty towards my 
neighbour.'' "The love of God," he writes in c. 95, 
" is far from all sin, and love to one's neighbour works 
no ill to one's neighbour." Cf Greek Fragment iv : 
" In as far as one can do good to one's neighbour and 
does it not, he must be considered a stranger to the love 
of God." This principle is applied to the Decalogue in 
c. 96, with the same searching inwardness, so that love 
is shown to " be the fulfilling of the law'." In the same 

1 Cited c. 87. 



3i8 The Apostolic Preaching [ch. 

chapter' he combines the three leading ideas of our 
Church Catechism, faith, love, duty, in one telling 
phrase : " He (the Lord) has through faith in Him 
developed our love to God and to our neighbour by 
which we become pious, and righteous and good." 

The greater part of the tract is, however, concerned 
with the Old Testament prophecies relating to the 
Messiah as Son of God, as Preexistent, as Incarnate, 
Crucified, Risen and Ascended, and as our future Judge. 
His work in connection with the Old Testament history 
is explained as to a catechumen, and the Scriptures are 
interpreted in the same allegorical manner of "seeking 
the type" which he had followed in the treatise". An 
interesting quotation from Baruch^ occurs in c. g"/. The 
principal verse* — " Afterward did he shew himself upon 
earth and conversed (or walked) with men " is also cited 
in the treatise', and the same application is made in 
both passages — " through Whom (Christ) there is union 
and communion between God and man." Communion 
with God established through Christ ; immortality con- 
ferred on man by the Father, Son and Holy Spirit ; 
and the image and likeness of God restored to man by 
both the Son and Holy Spirit — these are the three 
points round which the mind of Irenaeus revolves both 
in the treatise and the tract. 

The most remarkable statement in the Apostolic 
Preaching^ is that Pontius Pilate was the Procurator of 
Claudius (A.D. 41 — 54). This was evidently due to a 
desire to make the sentence under Pilate agree with the 
date required by those who held that our Lord lived 

1 c. 87. ^ typum quaerere iv. 31. i. 

' III. 29 — IV. I. * III. 37. 

6 IV. 20. 3. * i;. 74- 



xvii] The Apostolic Preaching 319 

over forty years\ We find many echoes of the treatise 
and of Justin's Apologia and Dialogue in this tract. 
We have the same parallels of Mary and Eve, and of 
the tree of knowledge and the Cross ; the recapitulatio , 
the summing-up of all things in Christ ; the prophetic 
Spirit ; the name Immanuel ; the jealousy of the Devil ; 
the indescribable generation of the Christ. Many of his 
own phrases, slightly altered, occur, e.g. " the rule of the 
truth " becomes " the rule of the faith," the Son is " the 
image of God " in the tract, the " visible of the Father " in 
the treatise. The perfection of man, the resurrection of 
the body, the obedience of Christ'', the adoption in Christ, 
His Incarnation, Virgin-Birth, the Church as the Seed 
of Abraham, Adam and Eve in the Garden represented 
as boy and girl, innocent and virgin, created from the 
virgin soil', the free will and responsibility of man, and 
the founding of the Churches by the Apostles — these 
and many other topics are treated in the same way in 
both the treatise and the tract. 

It is interesting to note that he has taken over from 
the Gnostics " the seven heavens " of which he writes' 
in both treatise and tract, but that he has abandoned 
his old explanation of the name Satan, which he inter- 
preted as "apostate" in Adv. Haer. V. 21. 2, but which 
he explained in the tract' as meaning "adversary." 
This is doubtless the reason why we do not meet the 
Apostasia, which figures so largely in the treatise, 
e.g. V. I. I, and which represents the rule of Satan. In 
c. 47 he says, " His fellows are the prophets, the righteous 
ones, and the Apostles and all they who have part in the 

1 Cf. Adv. Haer. n. ^^. 4, and John viii. 51. 

2 c. 31, and III. 10. 2. ' III. 22. 3 and cc. 12, 32. 
* I. 5. 2, and c. 9. ° c. 16. 



320 The Apostolic Preaching [ch. xvir 

fellowship of His kingdom, that is, His disciples " — words 
which find an echo in the ancient collect from the 
Sacramentary of Leo for the Third Sunday after Easter 
— "Grant unto all them that are admitted into the 
fellowship of Chrisfs religion that they may eschew 
those things that are contrary to their profession, and 
follow all such things as are agreeable to the same." 

In conclusion, there is one New Testament reading 
to be noted, vinegar (6^o<i) for wine (olvov) in Matthew 
xxvii. 34. In this he keeps company with Cod. Alex, 
and Cod. SangalL, " written in Latin (most probably by 
Irish) monks in the West of Europe during the ninth 
(rather tenth) century^" This is an interesting link 
between the Celtic Church of Ireland and Irenaeus. 
There is an indirect reference to Heb. xii. 23, "the 
assembly of the iirst-born." He distinctly ascribes 
John i, 14 to " His disciple John'' " in c. 94, and 
John i. I in c. 43 to "His disciple John" — another 
link between the Apostle John and the Fourth Gospel. 

^ Scrivener. 

* Johannes discipulus Domini. Adv. Haer. IV. 30. 



CHAPTER XVIII 



GNOSTICISM, ANCIENT AND MODERN 

We shall now give Irenaeus' account of the principal 
schools of ancient Gnosticism which are chiefly interesting 
to those who have some knowledge of the occult philo- 
sophy of the east, and especially important to those who 
are studying the argument for Christianity against the 
many forms in which Gnosticism has recently reappeared 
among us. 

The record of Gnostic speculation is somewhat unin- 
teresting reading, and yet one must, in some measure, 
attempt to form some idea of its various systems, which 
present, in a strange and repellent dialect, many anticipa- 
tions of the transcendentalism of the last generation' and 
of the Spiritualism and Christian Science of our own. 

' Bishop Westcott, Essays, p. 201. The Pistis Sophia throws light upon 
the Valentinian Gnosis and Sacramental System. This is a Gnostic work, in 
a Coptic MS. now in the British Museum, assigned by Petermann and Kostlin 
to one of the large groups of the Ophite sects. The Ophites are described 
in Irenaeus (i. 29 et sq.) and also by Origen, Hippolytus, Epiphanius and 
Theodoret. Their symbol of nature was the serpent which they took 
over from the Phoenicians and Egyptians. In one Gnostic system Nous 
is described as serpent-formed (i. 30. 5) ; in another Sophia herself is 
identified with the serpent. Although it might be imagined that the Greeks 
were anthropomorphic in their ideas, it is believed, even if not proved, that 
Zeus Meilichios was originally a serpent into whose temple the Zeus in 
human form intruded. See Miss Harrison's Prolegomena to the Study of 
Greek Religion, pp. ig — 21, where reliefs show snakeworship in Athens 
and Boeotia. "The colossal size of the beast as it towers above its human 
worshippers is the Magnificat of the artist." Cf. the serpents of Virgil's 
Aenad \\. 199, et sq. 

H. I. 21 



322 Gnosticism, Ancient and Modern [cH. 

The most popular system of the Gnostics in the 
eastern provinces of Rome was the Valentinian. Ac- 
cording to Hippolytus it was derived from the wisdom of 
Egypt and the Timaeus of Plato (vi. 22). Irenaeus 
describes it as a recapitulation of all the heresies (Praef. 
IV.). He says he studied the records (viro/j.vrifiaTa) of the 
sect (Praef I.) and states that Valentinus came to Rome 
in the time of Hyginus, flourished in the time of Pius 
and remained until the bishopric of Anicetus (ill. 4. 2). 
This would be circ. A.D. 140 — 156. Marcion was also 
at Rome at the time imbibing speculative ideas of 
another kind from Cerdo. So also was Justin Martyr. 
We gather from a hint of Irenaeus that other churchmen 
before him had attempted to cope with Valentinus 
without success ^ Valentinus had undoubtedly a superior 
type of mind that was attracted by the problems of 
religion and philosophy, and he tried to explain away 
all difficulties by an allegorical method of exegesis and 
an elaborate system of emanations. 

Epiphanius says he was born in Egypt and studied 
Platonism in Alexandria, which has been described as " a 
vat in which the various religions of the ancient world 
fermented." He occupies a prominent place in all works 
on Gnosticism. 

The positions of this theory, as described by Irenaeus, 
are as follows. Starting with the idea that matter was 
evil, and that therefore the supreme Unknown and tran- 
scendent Deity, who is described as Bythos, Proarche or 
Propator, had no part in connection with the Creation, 

' hi qui ante nos fuerunt et quidem multo nobis ipeUoifes Bon tanjen 
satis potuerunt contradicere his qui sunt a Valentino quia ignorabant 
regulam ipsorum quam nos cum omni diligentia in primo libra tibi 
tradidimus, Praef. iv. Clement of Alexandria in his Excerpts fai>m 
Theodotus preserves fragments of this teaching. 



XVIII j Gnosticism, Ancient and Modern '323 

these Gnostics filled up the void by a graduated scale of 
intermediaries, acting in pairs, and divided into groups 
of ogdoads, decads and dodecads, which they called 
agencies or aeons. These were all produced from the 
Supreme God, collectively made up the number thirty, 
and constituted the Pleroma. This system, Irenaeus 
declares, was borrowed from Plato, Democritus and the 
comic poets of Greece". It was also based, to a large 
extent, upon the three Egyptian enneads or cycles of gods 
in which Deity was supposed to manifest Itself. The 
Supreme God of the Gnostics became identified with the 
Pleroma, or fullness, which consisted of a number of 
created or divine beings. The most important of these 
is Nous, or Monogenes, who alone has knowledge of 
the Supreme God, and who leads others to that know- 
ledge. From Bythos and Sige (also called Ennoia or 
Charis) are produced Nous (or Monogenes) and Aletheia. 
From the second pair, or Syzygy, are generated Logos 
(the Word) and Zoe (Life), Anthropos (man) and 
Ecclesia (the Church). This was the first cycle of life — 
the ogdoad or octave. Then from Logos and Zoe are 
produced five pairs, called the Decad, the second cycle, 
ajid from Anthropos and Ecclesia, six pairs, styled the 
Dodecad, the third cycle. All these together made up 
the Pleroma. A solitary aeon, called Stauros (Cross) 
or Horos (Boundary), is employed to keep each aeon in 

" II. 14. I, where be points out that Antiphanes expressed similar 
ideas in his Theogony in which he described the birth of Chaos from Night 
and Silence, and the issue of Light from Love. " These things commonly 
acted by splendid voiced comedians they have transferred to their own 
system, changing the names." He compares their scheme to " a patchwork 
robe of borrowed rags," centonem ex multis et pessimis pannicuUs consar- 
cientes. An example of such a csb/o is given in l. 9. 4. It is composed of 
quotations from various portions of the Iliad and Odyssey strung together 
without sense or connection. Cf. TertuUian, de Praesc. 7. 



324 Gnosticism, Ancient and Modern [ch, 

its place. Of this Neander remarks' : " It is a profound 
idea of the Valentinian system that as all existence has 
its ground in the self-limitation of the Bythos, so the 
existence of all created beings depends on limitation^ 
So long as each remains within the limits of its own 
individuality, and is that which it should be at its own 
proper position in the evolution of life, all things are 
fitly adjusted to each other, and the true harmony is 
preserved in the series of vital development." 

Horos, the boundary, is also called Redeemer and 
Saviour in this system. It is also the cross separating, 
and is described in the text : " I am not come to bring 
peace on the earth, but the sword." "The fan in the 
hand " referred to the cross, which consumes all material 
things. But the cross supporting and sustaining is 
alluded to in the passage : " No man can be my disciple 
unless he takes up his cross and follows me^" This 
wresting of Scripture from its intended sense, condemned 
by Irenaeus, also appears in the writings of Christian 
Science. A yet more fanciful interpretation of the cross 
is found in the symbology of the Theosophist, according 
to which, "the fourfold cross (i.e. the Svastika) is the 
glyph for the square which represents the four lower 
planes of consciousness. On our three-dimensional 
planes the square becomes the cube, and the cube 
unfolded again displays the cross. The two numbers 
counted separately give us three and four — or, together, 
seven — that is an incarnated Christ, Whose descent into 
matter is called, exoterically. His Crucifixion'." 

1 Church History, II. 73. 

^ I. 3. 4, where he shows the distinction between the two operations 
7] eipaariKii or confirmation, and t) fiepianx'^ or separation. 
' See W. F. Cobb's article in Guardian, Nov. 28, igoo. 



xviii] Gnosticism, Ancient and Modern ^25 

The services of Horos were soon requisitioned, for 
Sophia, the last of the aeons, in her eagerness to see the 
light of the Supreme God, which could only be seen with 
safety by the First Mystery, stepped out of the Pleroma 
into the " void," and had to be brought back by Horos, 
but her child, Achamoth, was not allowed to enter. To 
guard against the recurrence of such a mishap, two new 
aeons, Christ and the Holy Spirit, were added by Nous 
or Intelligence. 

The aeon Christ taught the others to rest content 
with the knowledge that Bythos was unknowable, and 
the Holy Spirit made them unite in glorifying this great 
Being. In gratitude for the restoration of harmony, each 
of the thirty aeons contributed something to the forma- 
tion of another aeon, called Jesus, or Soter, who was the 
flower of the Pleroma. " For in Him dwelleth all the 
fulness or Pleroma of the Godheads" 

Thus the Valentinians based their scheme upon a 
text of Scripture which figures prominently in the com- 
paratively modern system of Swedenborg. According to 
the teaching of the '• New Church," this verse is the key 
to" the mystery of the Holy Trinity : " For the fullness of 
the Godhead dwells bodily in the glorified humanity of 
Jesus Christ, the Father being the Divine Soul, the Son 
the Divine Body, and the Holy Spirit the Divine Sphere 
which proceeds from the Father, and which through the 
Divine humanity of the Son is accommodated to all the 
spiritual wants of men and angels''." 

From the wanderings of Sophia outside the Pleroma 
the world and mankind originated. For the fall of the 

1 Coloss. ii. 9; Iren. I. 3. 4. 

2 Paper by R. L. Tafel, Great Thoughts, vol. XVII. p. 453. See also 
True Christian Religion, 167 et sq. 



326 Gnosticism, Ancient and Modern [cH. 

errant aeon into matter resulted in the quickening of a 
shapeless thing called Achamoth^, which was shut out 
into outer darkness. Christ pitied her stftiggles, and 
touched her with His Cross, and she became the soul of 
the world, receiving from Him the form of being, though 
not of knowledge. From the struggles of Achamoth to 
reach the light were produced psychic existences, the 
Demiurge among them. And from her grief and tears 
at failure came material things, among them, Satan and 
his angels. But Achamoth turned again to supplicate 
Christ, Who, loath to leave the Pleroma a second time, 
sent her the Paraclete, or the Saviour, with a host of 
angels, the Father giving all things into His hands. 
Jesus gives her shape, which is according to knowledge, 
and from their union proceeds spiritual or pneumatic 
existence". In this way the universe and man were 
created. Redemption consists in the deliverance of the 
spark of life or light from matter. The principal means 
of purification were a series of mysteries among which 
Baptism and the Eucharist had the first place, and also 
ascetic practices and a form of self-renunciation, which 
we find in the Pistis Sophia. 

The immediate work of the creation of the world and 
man was performed by the Demiurge, who, by one school 
— the Alexandrians — was regarded as the unconscious 
instrument of the Father, but by another — the Syrian 
Gnostics — as the inveterate foe of the Supreme God. 

' From the Hebrew niD3ri (kochmoth), plural of HMIJ, wisdom, the 
second ot the Cabbalistic Sephiroth. This is often called " Mater," 
e.g. in. ^s. 5, "matrem plorantem et lamentantem." Cf. Abel Remusat, 
Melanges Asiatiques, I. p. 54, where Lao-Tseu's teaching is given, "Before 
the chaos which preceded the becoming of the heaven and the earth, a 
solitary Being existed, immense and silent. It was the mother of the 
Universe." 

= I- 4- 5- 



XVI ii] Gnosticism, Ancient and Modern 327 

All Gnostics, however, regarded him, and not the principal 
God, as the creator of the world. The names under 
which he appears are as mysterious as the accounts of 
his origin are perplexing. He is described by Irenaeus as 
the " offspring of ignorance," and the " fruit of a defect'." 
Inferior to the Supreme God, the Propator or Bythos, 
but superior to the existing matter, a third and indepen- 
dent principle {vXrj), the corporeal elements of which 
sprang from the bewilderment of Achamoth, he fashions 
the latter into shape, leading it from chaos into cosmos. 
He belongs to the middle class, the psychical, and con- 
sequently is ignorant of the Spiritual Being who is above 
him. By separating the psychical from the material he 
makes seven heavens, each of which is under the control 
of an angel. He then makes man, bestowing upon him a 
psychic soul and body. Achamoth, however, succeeded 
in imparting to man a spiritual germ or spark. Envious 
of the superiority of his own workmanship to himself, 
the Demiurge thrust man down to the earth. In the 
course of time he instructed the Jewish prophets to 
proclaim him as the Yahveh. But by reason of the 
spiritual germ, they also uttered prophecies inspired by 
a higher source than he''. He also created a Messiah, of 
a psychic soul and immaterial body, to^ which was added 
a pneumatic soul from a higher source. This lower 
Christ was born of the Virgin Mary, passing through her as 
water through a tube, and in his thirtieth year — a year that 
corresponded with the number of aeons — the aeon Jesus 
descended upon Him at His Baptism. To Him the 
Demiurge, on learning His mission, gladly yielded, and, 
in the form of a centurion, said : "And I am a man 

' I. 16. 3, and II. 28. 4. 
' I. 7- 3- 



328 Gnosticism, Ancient and Modern [ch. 

under authority, having soldiers under me^" But it was 
not possible for the aeon Jesus to suffer. Therefore the 
aeon Jesus and the spiritual soul abandoned the lower 
Christ when he was brought before Pilate, but the psychic 
Christ suffered, in order that the mother might show 
him as a type of the higher Christ who was extended on 
Stauros, the Cross, and who gave Achamoth substantial 
form, for all these things are the types of higher things. 
This travesty of the Christian faith which has many 
points of similarity to Buddhism' is set forth in the first 
nine chapters of the treatise. 

With regard to Soteriology, Valentinus admitted a 
certain redemption, but declared that while faith was 
necessary for the psychical class of man, and miracles 
were required to produce it, the spiritual class were 
above such helps, and were saved by knowledge only, 
being admitted to " the wisdom of the perfect," whereas 
there was no salvation for the material class'. "The 
psychical needs discipline through the senses. They say 
that the Saviour took the firstfruits of those He would 
save, from Achamoth assuming the spiritual, but from 
the Demiurge receiving the psychical Chfist, and from 
the constitution (or dispensation) taking a psychical body 
which could be seen and touched. But there was nothing 
material in it, because matter could not be saved*. 

' I. 7. I and 4. 

'^ See Christianity and Hinduism (Rowland Williams), c. I. 

^ I. 6. 2. "The psychical class, that is, men who are confirmed by 
works and faith and have not perfect knowledge, are educated in psychical 
matters. They say that we of the Church belong to that class, and that in 
our case a good life is necessary to salvation. But they are completely 
saved not by their works but through the fact that they are spiritual by 
nature, and cannot see corruption, no matter what things they do" (k^v 
oiroiais iTvyKaTayivuvTai Trpdfco-i), a very dangerous doctrine revived in 
later times by various sects. 

* 1.6. I. 



xviii] Gnosticism, Ancient and Modern 329 

And the consummation was, that finally all spiritual 
•creatures would be restored to their original state, and, 
reaching the flower of their perfection, would be united 
with their angelic partners in the Pleroma ; that the 
Demiurge was to leave his heaven for the middle region, 
where he would reign over the psychic righteous ; that 
the aeon Jesus, the Bridegroom, was to be united with 
his Bride, Sophia or Achamoth ; and that the world and 
all that was material would be consumed by the fire that 
lurks within it. 

Irenaeus is horrified at Marcion's idea that when our 
Lord descended ad inferos He was greeted by Cain and 
others like him who were saved, whereas Abel, Enoch, 
Noah and all the just men and the patriarchs being 
suspicious of the Saviour did not run to meet Him and 
■did not share in his salvation'. On the other hand, he 
himself held that the Lord descended to the places 
below the earth to proclaim His coming and the re- 
mission of sins to those who believe on Him" There 
is no notion of penalty or shame connected with this 
■descent, which was founded on i Peter iii. 19. The 
clause is not found in any of his creed-like state- 
ments and was introduced much later into the Roman 
creed. 

The number three played an important part in Gnostic 
theology, cosmology and psychology. There are three 
elements in theosophy, matter. Demiurge and Bythus; 

1 I. 37- 3- 

* IV. 27. I, in ea quae sunt sub terra = Td KaraxSivta, cf. V. 31. 1, 
tribus diebus conversatus est ubi erant mortui, iv. 33. 12. v. 31. 1, 
"commoratus usque in tertiam diem in inferioribus lerrae." In three 
places, 111. 20. 4, IV. 33. 12, V. 31. i, he quotes ^ verse with variations 
which he assigns to Isaiah, but which Justin Martyr ascribed to Jeremiah. 
It was to the effect that the Lord remembered His dead who slept, and 
descended to them to preach the Gospel of Salvation and to save them. 



330 Gnosticism, Ancient and Modern [ch. 

three episodes in the history of religion, Heathenism^ 
Judaism, and Christianity ; and three divisions of man, 
the earthly, the psychical, and the spiritual ; and three 
sources of the Scriptures'. Adamantinus, in his account 
of the Marcionite Megethius, described these principles. 
The good principle was God, the Father of Christ, the 
second was the Demiurge, while the third was the Evil 
One". The good principle rules the Christians ; the 
Demiurge, or creating principle, the Jews ; and the evil 
principle the Gentiles. In a fragment from the school 
of Bardesanes, quoted by Eusebius, we find the three 
classes described as bad, just and good. "They who 
do evil without having suffered evil are bad, they who 
return evil for evil are just, while they who never 
retaliate are good'." "The material class are numerous, 
the psychical are not so many, while the spiritual are 
few*." The heathen are the material, the Jews according 
to some, and the Church people according to others, 
are the psychical, and the Gnostic Christians are the 
spiritual. 

Such is a brief summary of the Valentinian Gnosis 
as described by Irenaeus. The system had certain 
good points. It emphasized first the fact that all life 
has emanated from God and must return to Him ; and 
secondly the fact that all life, owing to its contact with 
matter, requires redemption. But its weak point lay in 

' IV. 35. 1. "The School of Valentinus and other Gnostics declare 
that certain passages of Scripture were spoken from the highest place ; that 
others were delivered from the intermediate place, while many portions 
proceeded from the Creator of the world by whom the prophets were sent." 
The psychical class had to take the literal meaning, but the pneumatic or 
spiritual class might take what meaning they chose from the Scriptures. 

' de recta fide, sect, i, rpeis dpxas, Qthv toi" rraripa XpicrroO iyaBov Kal 
dWov rbv Stjfuovpydv Kal ^Tepov rbv wovtjpdy. 

' Praepar. Evang. VI. 10, 274 c. 

* Clem. exc. ex Theod. 56. 



xviii] Gnosticism, Ancient and Modern 331 

its holding that man is saved not by works or by faith 
but by the knowledge of the Divine nature which he was 
supposed to possess. According to the Pistis Sophia^ 
" Man must renounce the world, if he would be united 
with the First Mystery or Christ, Who has passed 
downward through many spheres to bring to man the 
sacrament of purification and Who says : ' I will give 
unto you the Sacrament of the Ineffable.... And I Myself 
am that Sacrament... and whosoever receiveth that Sacra- 
ment, that man is I and I am he.' " 

The system of Marcion is somewhat different. 
Valentinus' system is florid, that of Marcion is austere. 
He professed to be purely Christian in his views, 
borrowing nothing from Oriental theosophy or Greek 
philosophy. His scheme is, therefore, purer and more 
practical than the other. He protested against allegorical 
interpretation, Church tradition, and all that savoured 
of Judaism. But while Valentinus spared the Scriptures 
because he expounded them according to his allegorical 
method, chiefly the Gospel of St JohnS Marcion, like 
a modern advanced critic, openly employed a sword 
rather than a pen {machaera non stilo usus esf), making 
selections from the Pauline Epistles to suit his own ideas. 
Holding, like the other Gnostics, three principles — the 
Supreme God, perfectly good ; the Devil, a lord of 
matter, and the Demiurge, he described the latter some- 
what differently. In his system the Demiurge is a 
judicial God^ is separated by an infinite distance from 

' III. II. 7, hi autem qui a Valentino sunt, eo quod est secundum 
Johannem plenissime utentes ad ostensionem conjugationum suarum. In 
I. 8. 4 — I. 9. 2 he shows how the prologue of the 4th Gospel was misused 
by this sect, which found its principles, God, Beginning, Word, Life, 
Man, Church, Truth, Only-Begotten, Grace, etc. there. 

' Cf. TertuUian de Praescript. 38. See I. 27. %. 

' HI. 25. 3. Cf. III. 12. 12. 



332 Gnosticism, Ancient and Modern [ch. 

the righteous God', and is the source of evils and the 
cause of strife. He is the author of the Old Testament, 
the inspirer of the prophets, and the Lord of all who 
belong to this world. The Jews are his favourite people, 
and his mission is to destroy heathenism and establish 
a Jewish empire. Then the Supreme God sent His 
Messiah, who accommodated himself to Messianic expec- 
tations, and proclaimed the Supreme God in an unreal 
body. But the Demiurge incited the Jews against him, 
and the Devil, or the Lord of matter, stirred up the 
Gentiles, and the Saviour was crucified. The difficulty 
•of reconciling mercy with justice had turned Marcion 
against the Jewish system and Scriptures to such an 
extent that he kept the Jewish sabbath as a fast. 
Marcion's hatred of the Jews led him to reject everything, 
law, prophets, etc., connected with the Jews. He was 
also a vegetarian, and his strict views of total abstinence 
led him to forbid the use of wine in the Eucharist. But 
his scheme became the most popular of all, because 
of its professed asceticism, independence and practical 
rules, and the Marcionite communities were very strong 
in Egypt, Palestine, Persia, Arabia and Italy in the 
fourth century, doubtless owing to their courage in 
enduring martyrdom. Constantine (A.D. 330), however, 
forbade them to meet in their conventicles, and handed 
their churches to the Catholics. But they were not 
extinguished for centuries, and are said to have held 
their ground as a sect in Bosnia and Herzegovina down 
to 1774, and to have reappeared among the wilder 
elements of the German revolution. The Gnosis of 
Valentinus, on the other hand, had a more potent 
influence upon mystical minds, who were won by its 
1 I. 27. 2. 



xviii] Gnosticism, Ancient and Modern 233 

secrecy and pliability. Constantine's accession, however, 
pronounced, in a measure, its doom. A recent effort 
to revive its name and doctrines has been made in Paris, 
where there was until recently a small congregation, 
mainly recruited from Spiritualists, who professed faith 
in the doctrines of emanation and salvation by Gnosis 
only. 

These heresies, however, are by no means defunct, 
and the arguments of Irenaeus are by no means obsolete. 
For the same ideas which he assailed are still germinating 
in human minds, and are constantly re-appearing in new 
forms. Even the casual reader must have been struck 
by the obvious resemblances that are to be found in 
Theosophy, Swedenborgianism, and Christian Science 
to ancient Gnosticism. Theosophy resembles Valentinian 
Gnosticism in the variety of its elements and the structure 
of its system. Its words are mysterious, only to be 
understood by the elect or the perfected. It alone has 
the exact and experimental knowledge of things. In 
its keeping are the secret doctrines revealed of old time 
by the Indian sages or Mahatmas, Jewish cabala and 
Gnostic teachers. And in its occult philosophy and 
esoteric teaching, science and religion are said to be 
combined. Professing to possess absolute truth, it 
describes the evolution of nature and of man. The 
universe evolves from primary substance, every material 
form being the crystallisation of the one pervading 
eternal life. Synthesis means life ; disintegration is 
death. In nature there are seven kingdoms ; three 
below the mineral, then the mineral, vegetable, animal, 
and human. Man evolves through a round of " seven 
globes' in a planetary chain," and through a series of 

1 Cf. the seven heavens of the Ophites presided over by their seven 



334 Gnosticism, Ancient and Modern [ch. 

re-incarnations or re-births. Seven '' races " make a 
" round." Eacli individual must work through seven 
races on each planet before passing on to the next. 
Seven rounds have to be accomplished by our earth. 
Of these, four races of the fourth round have been 
finished. The ultimate goal is Nirvana, or absolute 
absorption into the universal spirit, where there is an 
end of personal existence. This however is practically- 
denied by modern Theosophists, who regard the Ego 
as but a reflection of the Logos. As of nature there are 
seven kingdoms, so of man there are seven parts. Of the 
organism which perishes there are four divisions — physical 
body, astral body, vitality, and animal soul. These four 
perish at death. Of the immortal, spiritual man there 
are three parts — mind, spiritual soul, and spirit This 
last is formed by union of the spiritual soul with the 
universal spirit. For man is a spark of the universal 
spirit, prisoned in his body as a flame in the lamp. 
Few can boast of a human soul, but the spiritual soul 
is altogether undeveloped. This sevenfold classification 
is rejected in favour of a fourfold by later writers on 
Theosophy. 

If we compare this philosophy of man and nature 
with the Valentinian, substituting the number three for 
the number seven in the case of man, the result is a 
number of correspondences. And when we take into 
account the part analogy plays in both, unrestrained by 
any logic or likeness, everything representing anything ; 
the mystical values ascribed in each system to numbers ; 
the identification of evil, Satan and matter ; the typical 

angels laldabaoth, lao, Sabaoth, Adoneus, Eloeus, Oreus, Astaphaeus. 
Adv. Haer. I. 30. 5. 

1 Lectures on the Bhagavad Gitd by T. Sabba Row. 



xviii] Gnosticism, Ancient and Modern ^35 

-character ascribed to the triumph of Christ ; the working 
out of man's salvation by transmigrations until perfection 
is reached, and the spark of life, purified and restored, is 
merged in deity ; the superiority accorded to knowledge 
over faith, the gradual redemption of the higher parts 
of man from the material effects and influences and 
consequences'; the impersonal and pantheistic nature 
of the deity in both systems ; the incorporation of the 
pneumatical man in the Pleroma of the Gnostics and 
the Buddhist's absorption into the universal spirit, we 
cannot fail to recognize in modern Theosophy a reap- 
pearance of many of the dreamy speculations of ancient 
Gnosticism. Moreover, both systems advocated a renun- 
ciation of all worldly desires and claimed to possess a 
secret which was not revealed save to the members. At 
the same time Theosophy, in its noble attempt to serve 
the cause of humanity and brotherhood, has borrowed 
from the social service principles of the religion of Christ, 
and sometimes parades its views in a Christian dress. 

In the system of Emanuel Swedenborg there are 
also many points of contact with Gnosticism. The 
principle of correspondence between the spiritual and 
the natural, according to which the former produces, 
quickens and reveals itself in the latter, is not unlike 
the Gnostic principle of regarding everything in the 
lower region as symbolical of everything in the higher ; 
€.g. the psychical Christ is represented as a type of the 
higher Christ. Compare the axiom of Theosophy, " As 
above so below." Their threefold principle of scriptural 
interpretation — the human, the spiritual, and the divine', 

1 These, both good and bad, are called Karma. 

" Or the natural, spiritual and celestial senses (Apoc. explained, 1066). 
Origen (Philocalia, I.) uses similar language, speaking of the visible "body" 



^^6 Gnosticism, Ancient and Modern [ch. 

— also finds its counterpart in the broad line of demar- 
cation that separates the psychical from the spiritual 
sense, the literal meaning from "the wisdom of the 
perfect," in the Gnostic system. Attention has already 
been drawn to the fact that the same verse (Col. ii. 9) 
figures prominently in both systems. The claim of 
special revelation, private information, and the use of 
a prophetic style were characteristics of both movements. 
And while we cannot but admire the part allotted to 
good living, love, and charity in the system of Sweden borg, 
we cannot fail to remark a reproduction of much of 
the weird mysticism, ingenious exegesis and general 
mystification of ancient Gnosticism in the Arcana 
Coelestia and Apocalypse Revealed of Swedenborg. 

In Christian Science we find another modern Gnostic 
rival of Christianity, if not as subtle as Theosophy, 
more attractive than Swedenborgianism, being arrayed 
in the garb of philosophical idealism, dogmatic optimism, 
and Christian Scripture. We are asked by it to believe 
that the world is a perfect world, that evil and matter 
do not exist, that sickness is a delusion to be overcome 
by persistent denials, and, as "flesh and blood cannot 
inherit the Kingdom of God," that God did not create 
them. The difficulty of reconciling the love and power 
of Deity with the existence of evil and the deficiency of 
justice, which the ancient Gnostics also essayed to 
remove, is severed, like another Gordian knot, by the 
Christian Scientists, but not settled. In Mrs Eddy's 

of Scripture, the "soul" that is understood and the "spirit" which is- 
according to the pattern of the things in the heavens. These are three 
stages of interpretation. Cf. Swedenborg, "The Word is like a Divine 
man : the literal sense is as it were his body, but the internal sense is as it 
were his soul : hence it is evident that the literal sense lives by means of 
the internal sense," Arcana Coelestia, 8943. 



xviii] Gnosticism, Ancient and Modern ^I'j 

Key to the Scriptures we find many interpretations of 
the Gnostics. The object of Christian Science, as stated 
by one of its advocates (Lord Dunmore), is "to endeavour 
to get a spiritual insight into the knowledge of those 
laws and principles which relate to Christ and His 
teaching " ; while that of Valentinus was to find support 
for his mystical speculations in the pages of Scripture. 
Both systems were put forward with pretentious claims 
to superior knowledge and enlightenment, and in a 
Scriptural form that might deceive even the very elect. 
The God of both Gnostic and Christian Scientist is 
impersonal, being Universal Mind in one, and Bythus 
in the other. The dual personality of Jesus is also 
asserted in both systems. For the Christian Scientists 
declare that the " man Jesus '' suffered because He did 
not overcome the illusions of matter, while the Divine 
Idea, as Christ, could not suffer, and that the body of 
Jesus did not really endure death on the Cross. To 
cite the authoress's own words : " The invisible Christ 
was incorporeal, whereas Jesus was a corporeal bodily 
existence. This dual personality of the unseen and the 
seen, the spiritual and the material, the Christ and Jesus, 
continued until the Master's Ascension, when the human 
corporeal concept, or Jesus, disappeared." This dis- 
tinction is based, whether consciously or unconsciously, 
upon the Gnostic division of the aeon Jesus and the 
"nether" Christ. The process of redemption is also 
similar in both systems. " In order to cure his patient," 
writes Lord Dunmore, "the metaphysician should first 
cast moral evils out of himself... A man... has to go 
through a course of self-purification before he can attain 
that spiritual freedom which will enable him to cope 
with the sufferings of his fellow creatures." This course 

H. I. 32 



338 Gnosticism, Ancient and Modern [cH. 

of self-purification, however, is not redemption in the 
Christian sense. " For man needs no redemption," says 
Mrs Eddy. It seems to be merely enlightenment. And 
this corresponds with the salvation by Gnosis or 
knowledge^ only in the Gnostic system. Of course 
many fundamental differences are to be expected between 
a system of modern idealism in a Christian dress and a 
mosaic of speculation, in which Christian language was 
employed to express the esoteric doctrines of Persians, 
Indians, Jews, and Egyptians. One such difference is 
to be found in this, that the Gnostic believed in a 
general purification of the spiritual soul, but the Christian 
Scientist holds that man is already perfect. "God is 
the principle of man," writes Mrs Eddy, "and the 
principle of man remaining perfect, its idea or reflection, 
man, remains perfect." A certain nominal redemption 
was acknowledged by the Gnostics, but, according to 
the Christian Scientists, no redemption is needed. Evil 
was recognized by the Gnostics, but "evil is not," saith 
the Christian Scientist. Sin is not a falling back, but 
a step onwards in the evolution of the race. Suffice it 
to say that there is very little Christian except the texts, 
which are wrongly employed in this system, which, as 
has been demonstrated by many, has as little claim to 
the name of " science " as it has to that of " Christian," 
and is a real menace to true faith in God and prayer, 
because of the attractiveness which novelties ever have 
had for easily excited minds. It is a remarkable thing 
that women are now taking as prominent a part in the 
promulgation of this heresy as they did in the days of 
Tertullian (A.D. 180 circ), who wrote in his De Praescrtp- 
tionibus : " How forward are the heretic women, who 



xviii] Gnosticism, Ancient and Modern ^39 

dare forsooth to teach, to argue, to exorcise spirits, to 
promise cures and perchance to baptized" Irenaeus 
would describe all such revivers of ancient Gnosticism 
in one comprehensive saying : " omnes falso scientiae 
nomine inflati, Scripturas quidem confitentur, interpre- 
tationes vero convertunt^" 



' c. 41, omnes tument, omnes scientiam poUicentur. ipsae mulieres 
haereticae quam procaces, quae audeant docere, contendere, exorcismos 
agere, curationes repromittere, forsitan et tingere. 

2 III. 12. 12. 



22—2 



CHAPTER XIX 



CREED AND CONCLUSION 

The following creed', of an Eastern and Greek type 
as distinguished from the Roman and Western, might be 
drawn up from the Treatise of Irenaeus : 

' The following are the passages in the text on which the foregoing 
creed is constructed : 

Solus hie Deus invenitur qui omnia fecit, solus omnipotens condens et 
faciens omnia et visibilia et invisibilia et caelestia et terrena (ii. 30. 9) ; 
unus et idem Pater (v. 16. i); unus Deus Pater (IV. 6. 7); fabricator 
caeli et terrae (iv. 6. 4). 

Verbum Unigenitus ipse est lesus Christus Dominus noster (ill. i6. 6) ; 
Movoyev/is (l. 9. 3); blasphemant in Dominum nostrum, abscidentes et 
dividentes lesum a Christo et Christum a Salvatore, et Salvatorem a Verbo, 
et Verbum ab Unigenito (Praef. iv.) ; unum Verbum, Filius (iv. 6. 7); 
Filius Dei (lii. 10. i); Progenies ejus, Primogenitus Verbum (v. 36. 3); 
ipse Unigenitus a Patre (iii. 16. 9) ; Pater qui generaverit Filium (iv. 6. 6) ; 
visibile autem Patris Filius (iv. 6. 6); qui est ante omnem conditionem 
(v. I. i); semper autem coexistens Filius Patri (11. 30. 9 and II. 25. 3); 
cum Verbo suo juste dicatur Deus et Dominus solus (ill. 8. 3); Christus 
cum Patre vivorum est Deus (iv. 5. i); Lumen hominum (III. 16. 4); 
vere Deus (iv. 6. 7); per quern facta sunt omnia (in. 8. 2); et hunc 
incamatum esse pro salute nostra (ill. 16. 2); Ipse est qui descendit... 
propter salutem hominum (in. 6. 3); ex Virgine natum Filium Dei... 
ex Maria sit natus (ni. j6. 3); Spiritus Sanctus advenit in Mariam...quod 
generatum est sanctum est, et Filius Altissimi Dei Patris omnium qui 
operatus est incamationem ejus (v. i. 3) ; hominis filius factus (in. 16. 3) ; 
homo verus (v. i. i) ; de semine David (lll. 16. 3 ; cf. Ignatius, ad Trail. IX. 
iK y^fovs Aa^lS) ; crucifix! sub Pontio Pilato (11. 32. 4) ; passus sub Pontio 
Pilato (ill. 4. 2) ; qui passus est pro nobis et surrexit propter nos et rursus 
venturus in gloria Patris ad resuscitandam universam carnem et ad osten- 
sionem salutis et regulam justi judicii ostendere omnibus (in. 16. 6); et de 
cselis in gloria Patris adventum (1. 10. i); descendit ad inferiora terrae 
(iv. 22. i); et ascendit propter salutem hominum (in. 6. i); assumptus 
est in cselos (in. 16. 9); resurrexit a mortuis, qui est in dexterS Patris 
(in. 16. 9); qui destruet temporalia regna et aetemum induet (v. 26. 2). 
Spiritus unus (iv. 6. 7); Spiritus Sanctus (v. Praef.); Spiritus vitae 



CH. xix] Creed and Conclusion 241 

" We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker 
of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. 

" And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only-Begotten 
Word, the Son of God, the Offspring of the Father, 
the Visible of the Father, Begotten before all worlds, the 
Son Who is always co-existent with the Father, Who with 
the Father is the only Lord and God, Who with the Father 
is the God of the living, the Light of men and Very God, 
by Whom all things were made, Who descended for the 
salvation of men. Who became incarnate for our salva- 
tion, by the Holy Ghost, of the Virgin Mary, of the seed 
of David, and was made man, and was crucified under 
Pontius Pilate. He suffered for us ; descended into the 
lower regions of the earth, rose again from the dead and 
ascended for the salvation of man ; was taken up into 
heaven, and is at the right hand of God, and shall come 
again in the glory of the Father to raise all flesh and 
judge all men ; Whose kingdom is eternal. 

" And in one Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Life, the Spirit 

(III. ^. 8); arrha incorruptelae (in. 24. i); Trvcvfiut ftDoiroioCx (v. 12. 2); 
Domino effundente Spiritum Patris (v. i. i); adest enim ei (Patri) semper 
Verbum et Sapientia, Filius et Spiritus, per quos et in quibus omnia libere 
et sponte fecit (IV. 20. i) ; Spiritu quidem operante, Filio vero ministrante, 
Patre vero comprobante, homine vero consummato ad salulem (iv. 20. 6) ; 
^er omnia unus Deus Pater et unum Verbum, Filius et unus Spiritus 
(iv. 6. 7) ; per Spiritum imaginem et inscriptionem Patris accipiente 
(hi. 17. 3); Filius et Spiritus Sanctus quibus serviunt et subjecti sunt 
omnes Angeli (IV. 7: 4); qui in prophetis quidem praeconavit (in. 21. 4). 

Unitas ecclesiae (iv. 33. 7) ; banc (idem ecclesia et quidem in universum 
mundum disseminata diligenter custodit quasi unam domum inhabitans 
(l. 10. 2) ; antiquus ecclesiae status in universo mundo et character corporis 
Christi secundum successiones Episcoporum (iv. 38. 8) ; quibus apostoli 
tradiderunt ecclesias (v. 20. i); sancta (iv. 26. 5); catholica (in. 11. 8 
where the Church's relation to the four catholic spirits and covenants is 
discussed); per lavacrum regenerationem restituens (v. 15. 3); piirrur/ia 
a<fi4(Teus afiapriMV ; jSaTrWff/iaTOS t^s eis Beov ivayevviiseas (I. 21. 2); Filius 
hominis factus a Patre potestatem remissionis peccatorum accipiens (v. 1 7. 3) ; 
cum Sanctis Angelis conversationem et communionem (v. 35. i) ; resurrectio 
quae est a mortuis (in. 20. 2 camis, II. 33. 5); vitam...incorruptibilitatem 
...gloriam sempitemam (I. 10. i). 



342 Creed and Conclusion [ch. 

of the Father given by the Son, Who with the Son 
assisted in the Father's Creation, Who with the Father 
and the Son assists in the salvation of men, through 
Whom men receive the image of the Father and the 
Son, Who with the Son is worshipped by the angels ; 
Who spake by the prophets, 

"And in one holy. Catholic, ancient and apostolic 
Church, the baptism of regeneration for the remission of 
sins, the communion with the holy angels, the resurrec- 
tion from the dead and the life everlasting." 

There are many expressions in this creed thus recon- 
structed' which were afterwards embodied in the Nicene. 
Of these we may note a few. The oneness of the Father, 
and the oneness of the Son, are emphasized in both. The 
Father is also in both the Maker of all things visible 
and invisible by His Word the Only-Begotten. Jesus is 
Verus Deus (Irenaeus), ©eoi/ aXi}div6v (Nicene). He is 
the Lumen hominum (Irenaeus), ^w? sk <I>(»to? (Nicene). 
Cf. Si autem, velut a lumine lumina accensa, sunt Aeones 
a Logo. In both He is begotten of the Father before all 
worlds. In both He became incarnate for our salvation, 
pro salute nostra (Iren.), Skz Trjv rinerepav acoTrjpiav 
(Nic). In both He will return wiik glory, venturus in 
gloria patris (Iren.), ipxofJ^evov fiera B6^7)<; (Nic). In 
both the Holy Spirit is the Giver of life (^(oottoiovv), and 
spake by the prophets, qui in prophetis praeconavit 
(Iren.), to TuiXrjcrav Sid r&v 7rpo<f>r)T&v (Nic). Baptism is in 
both connected with the Remission of Sins. Attention has 
already been drawn to the fact that the word ofioovaio^, 
which figures so prominently in the Nicene Creed, was 
frequently used by Irenaeus, e.g. I. 5. 4, where is given 

1 See Hermathena 1906; Creeds of SS. Irenaeus and Patrick, by the 
present writer. 



xix] Creed and Conclusion ^43 

the Gnostic account of the Creation of man, like, but not 
of the same substance, with God (jrapaiv\r)ai,o<i dW' ovx 
ofjLoova-io<i t£ Bern). Cf. Bvva/j,i<; Sfiooiicrioi; I. II. 3 and 
•' utrum ejusdem substantiae (= ofioova-ioi) existebant his 
qui se emiserunt an ex altera quadam substantia substan- 
tiam habentes?" 11. I7' 2 ; ofioovaiov VTrdp^^ov t^ tt-tirpi, 
irpevfiariKov, I. 5. 5. The last passage shows that the 
word was capable of a non-materialistic meaning. It is 
also to be noticed that Irenaeus describes the Son as 
receiving the Spirit as a gift from the Father and giving 
Him to men (in. 17. 2), and shedding abroad the 
Spirit of the Father for the union and communion of 
God and man, V. i. i ; expressions which assert both the 
Monarchia of the Father and the Double Procession of 
the Spirit, and therefore might form a basis for a mutual 
understanding between the Anglican and the Greek 
Churches. 

Conc/usz'on. 

In concluding this sketch of the life and writings of 
Irenaeus we must notice in the first place how appropri- 
ately Irenaeus was named " the man of peace." For he 
ever strove for unity in the Church and uniformity 
in doctrine and organization ; and his mind and temper 
were of the sort that reconciles. He had not the same 
spiritual depth and fervour as St Paul, and, therefore, did 
not feel the power of the Divine forgiveness in the same 
way. He did not express the same intensely passionate 
convictions as St Augustine, but he did not pass through 
the same experience ; moreover, as a Greek, he was 
more inclined to treat sin from an intellectual rather than 
from an emotional standpoint. We miss in him the 
dogmatic precision of Tertullian, the ample scholarship 



344 Creed and Conclusion [cH. 

and classical culture of Clement of Alexandria and the 
scientific theology of Origen, yet his doctrine, founded 
upon the New Testament — the book he knew best — 
proved a more decisive factor than all three in the 
moulding of the historic faith. And, had he enjoyed the 
" learned leisure " of the great Alexandrian, he would 
doubtless have produced a greater work than the treatise. 

His was not a creative genius, which could start a 
new line of thought or discover a new principle of 
development. He had many teachers, whose superiority 
he is always ready to acknowledge, and he learned their 
lessons well, But his keen wit, ready brain, and natural 
bent for argument, enabled him to utilize all his resources 
in his controversy, and to strike home when he struck ; 
while his well-balanced temper and sympathetic nature 
kept him from extremes and helped him to conciliate 
without compromise. His style is equally well balanced, 
epigrammatic and lucid. He was a master of climax. 

While the central thoughts of his Christology became 
the basis of future theological works, his scattered notes 
furnish us with many an important clue to the study of 
Church history. Taking a leading part in the great 
debates of the day concerning the attitude of the Church 
to the Gnostics, Montanists, the Canon of Scripture, the 
keeping of Easter, and the Episcopate, he is a true 
mirror of his age, its problems and activities. And his 
work gives us a photograph, blurred but invaluable, of 
the Church as it emerged out of comparative obscurity 
into the full light of day. In his time the leaders of the 
Christian Churches were beginning to examine the docu- 
ments of the faith, under compulsion of the Gnostic 
critics, to apply the principles of Christianity to the 
problems of the age, to systematize the evidences of the 



xix] Creed and Conclusion 345 

faith, and to emphasize the unity of the charter, faith 
and worship of the Church. 

The part Irenaeus played in this work was important 
but hard to define. In his writings, however, we are able 
to trace the development of the Creed or apostolic faith, 
the growth of the Canon or apostolic documents, and the 
progress of the Church or the apostolic constitution. 
His literary work was, therefore, calculated not merely 
to discourage the enemies of the Church, but also to 
inspire men with loyalty to the Christian organization 
and history, the Scriptures and the Sacraments. 

One of the best types of the Catholic Christianity 
which was becoming the chief religious influence of his 
day, he was also the representative to his own generation 
of the theological mind and practical purpose of St Paul, 
his love of religious order and spiritual liberty, as well as 
of his reverence for the truth of the Scriptures and the 
knowledge of God, and of his strenuous life. And he finds 
his representatives in the bosom of that Church which is 
at once Catholic and Evangelistic, inseparable from the 
past but adaptable to the present, modern yet historic. In 
the deep fervour, sweet reasonableness, subdued piety and 
well-balanced zeal of divineslike the philosophic Which- 
cote and the constitutional Hooker, we find the qualities 
of head and heart which distinguished the Bishop of 
Lyons and enabled him to accomplish his great work on 
the essence of Christianity. It is safe to prophesy that 
the Church universal will never let that treatise die which 
teaches her to maintain calm in controversy and peace 
within her borders, "to think clear, feel deep and bear 
fruit wellV Much of the treatise has been superseded. 

1 in sententia pura et fide sine hypocrisi, in spe firma, in dilectione 
fervent! (iv. i8. 3). 



346 Creed and Conclusion [cH. xix 

But more has present force. For ancient errors are ever 
reappearing in new forms. And when we have separated 
the transitory from the abiding, the dross from the pure 
ore, the gains are not small. From the traditions of the 
middle ages, from scholasticism and metaphysics, we are 
summoned back by Irenaeus to the early Church, with 
its simple majesty and its martyr spirit — back to the 
vision of a Christ of infinite power and iniinite pity. 
Personal sanctity is enhanced by communion with one 
whose life was lived in the light of the Word, the philo- 
sophy of history is illumined by the scroll that speaks of 
progress and the past, and our grasp of Jesus grows more 
firm as we clasp the hand of him who points us trium- 
phantly through the long, long distances : 

On to the bound of the waste, 
On to the city of God. 



EXCURSUS 

THE LATIN TRANSLATION 

It is a matter of dispute to what century this translation 
belongs. Westcott and Hort regard it as a 4th century work. 
But some authorities assign it to the end of the second. 
R. A. Lipsius in The Dictionary of Christian Biography says 
the Latin version "must have been made from the Greek 
original very soon after its composition, since the Latin text 
was used by Tertullian some ten years afterwards in his 
Tractaius adv. Valentinianos. Its author was a Celt (so we 
conclude from the barbarous I^tinity), and probably one of 
the clergy of Lyons." Zahn in Herzog's Real-Encyklopddie, 
however, says the age of the translation "needs renewed 
investigation. For the opinion of Grabe and Massuet that 
Tertullian already used it c. Valentinianos is disputable." It 
is interesting to note that Tertullian in c. v. of that work alluded 
to Irenaeus as "a most eager explorer of all doctrines ^" 
Massuet says, "there are some who believe that Irenaeus 
himself first wrote in Greek and then translated it into Latin. 
But such have little regard for his credit. For he would at 
least have followed the sense. It was probably some Greek 
person little versed in the Latin tongue who made bad Latin 
out of good Greek, and put a wrong construction upon his 
author more than once. Whoever it was, it is certain that the 
version is most ancient and was published either during the 
life or shortly after the death of Irenaeus." The reasons 

' nee undique dicemur ipsi nobis iinxisse materias, quas tot jam viri, 
sanctitate et praestantia insignes, nee solum nostri antecessores, sed ipsorum 
Haeresiarcharum contemporales instructissimis voluminibus et prodiderunt 
et retuderunt ut Justinus philosophus et martyr, ut Miltiades Eeelesiarum 
Sophista, ut Irenaeus omnium doctrinarum curiosissimus exploratory ut 
Proculus, etc. 



348 The Latin Translation 

given for this opinion are (i) the resemblances between it 
and the Latin of TertuUian's treatise, especially between the 
passages of the treatise (i. 2. 3) beginning "ante omnes 
Proarche" and that in TertuUian beginning "ante omnia 
Proarche'' (c. 37), and (2) the mistakes common to both 
works, which originated with the translator of Irenaeus, for 
where he made a slip Tertullian followed suit. Both writers 
mistook the name 'E7rt<^av»;'s for an adjective (clarus, Iran., 
insignior, Tert.); both failed to understand crvv tm kTiyi,yvofi,ivio 
irddei (cum appendice passione, Iren. ; appendicem passionem, 
Tert.); and both rendered ciTroo-Tavpw^iji'at which means "vallo 
cingi" by crucifixam. Again Loofs' view mentioned in 
Chapter iii. and based on the arguments of the different 
books, and the antiquity of the Latin, which he assigns to a 
hypothetical original of about 200 A.D., carries weight. That 
antiquity is proved also by the mistranslation of e.v)(api-arAv in 
I. 13. 2, ironjpia evxa-pi^Teiv (to consecrate) hy pro calice gratias 
■agere, the avoidance or ignorance of the technical term being 
proof of an early date. 

In many points, e.g. in creed-like expressions', biblical 
quotations, and style, we notice the influence of the Latin 
Irenaeus upon the Confession and the Epistle of St Patrick, 
who was trained in Gaul (circ. 411 — 432 a.d.). The translation 
■would seem to have been established there a considerable 
time owing to the gradual disuse of Greek, and to have been 
one of the treasures of the island monastery of Lerins. We 
«hall now consider the character of its Latin style and of its 
biblical quotations : 

1 See Hermathena xxxi. (1907, pp. 168 — 182), Creeds of SS. Irenaeus 
<ind Patrick, by the present writer. The influence of the treatise is also 
seen in the Commonilorium of Orientus, Bishop of Auch (circ. 410 — 450) 
in the South of France, and in the writings of the school of Lerins, e.g. the 
sermon of Hilary on Honoratus (430). Gennadius of Marseilles (c. 480) 
defined the incarnation after Adv. ffaer. III. 19. i as " Dei filius factus est 
hominis filius" (De eccl. dogm.). 



The Latin Translation 349 

/. Literary and Grammatical Peculiarities in the 
Latin of Irenaeus. 

(I) (a) Alliteration and (/3) Assonance are constant 
features : 

(a) e.g. corda carnalia capacia, v. 13. 3; perseverare ac 
permanere, iv. 14. i; perdiderint panem vitae verae, 11. 11. i; 
Spiritu sanctitatis stolam, in. 23. 5; propria proferentes pes- 
simis panniculis, 11. 14. i; superiora allevatitium arreptum 
statim, I. 30. 2; sermonibus vacuis et verbis scurrilibus, 
IV. 28. i; perpessus ignorantiam substituit substantiam in- 
formem peperit, 11. 20. 3, etc. This is also a feature of the 
Latinity of St Patrick'. 

W e.g. si prohibuisset nil profecisset, n. 30. 7 ; purus pure 
puram aperiens vulvam, iv. 33. 1 1 ; efficiet et perficiet, iv. 33.11; 
lividum et invidum, v. 4. i : pinguius et pigrius, i. 30. 8, etc. 
This is also a feature of the Latinity of St Patrick'. 

(II) The figure Chiasmus occurs frequently : 

e.g. derident doctrinam eorum illorum autem misereantur, 

I. 31. 3; terrenum spiritali et spiritali terrenum, 11. 19. 4; 
quod cogitat hoc et loquitur, et quod loquitur hoc et cogitat, 

II, 28. 5; Dei violaverit violabit eum Deus, iv. 8. 3, etc. This 
also is a feature of the Latinity of St Patrick'. 

(III) Doublets are frequently found : 

e.g. plorans et plangens, i. 14. 8; fiducialiter et instantis- 
sime, Praef. in.; juste et legitime, v. 24. 2; hortatur et 

1 e.g. plorat et plangit (after i. 14. 8 plorans et plangens), Epistola 15; 
omnes omnino (after v. 12. 5), Confessio 8; sicut Spiritus suggerebat (after 
secundum id quod Spiritus suggerebat, IV. 38. 4), C. 48; promiserat per 
prophetas (after per prophetas promiserat, ni. 9. 3 etc.), C. 38; inquisivi 
eum et ibi inveni illam, C. 33. 

^ e.g. adlevavit et coUocavit, C. 12; cum timore et tremore, C. 8; 
paupertas et calamitas, C. 55; summam divinam sublimem potestatem, 
Ep. 6; vetantur...imitantur, C. 42; videtur corde creditur, C. 54; bene 
refecti et...repleti, C. 19; duobus mensibus eris cum illis, C. 21. 

^ sicut Spiritus gestit et animas et sensus monstrat aifectus, C. 10 • 
judicabunt nationes et regibus iniquis dominabuntur, Ep. 19; nee me 
poenitet nee satis est mihi, C. 53; satis Deo faciant et liberent servos 
Dei, Ep. 7; nesciunt miseri venenum letalem cibum porrigunt, Ep. 13, 
(notice metre). 



350 The Latin Translation 

admonet, i. 17. i; timuerunt et dilexerunt Deum, iv. 22. 2; 
resistens et repugnans, in. i. 3; audacter et irreverenter, 
III. 23. 4; typice et temporaliter, iv. 27. 4; augmentum et 
incrementum, iv. 10. 2. See also Patrick^ 

(IV) Adverbs in -ter are frequent : 

e.g. inapprehensibiliter, irrationabiliter, qualiter, spiritaliter, 
impudenter, fiducialiter (in. 15. i), multiformiter, largiter, 
sensuabiliter, fraudulenter, etc. See also Patrick". 

(V) Superlatives are frequent : 

e.g. sublimissimam, potentissimae, minutissimam, eminen- 
tissimam, splendidissimis, magnificentissimam, periculosis- 
simae, perfectissima. See also St Patrick's works'. 

(VI) Adjs. in -ilis are frequent : 

e.g. docibiles Dei, ineloquibilis, inaccusabilia, indocibilis, 
consumptibilia, projectibilis, seductibilis, inscrutabilia, trans- 
ibilis, tnirabilia. 

(VII) Diminutives are frequent : 

e.g. oviculam, aniculam, signaculum, flosculum, admini- 
culum, pinnaculum, vermiculus, muliercula, particula, navicula, 
etc. See also St Patrick's works*. 

(VIII) A penchant for compound verbs with eon, de, e or 
ex, per, prae, re, sub, etc. 

(IX) Asyndeton is frequent : 

e.g. carnalis, derelictus, imperfectus, v. 6. i ; homo varus 
visibilis, ni. 20. 4; mors, corruptio, error, 11. 20. 3; lapidem, 
pretiosum, electum, summum, angularem, honorificum, in. 21.5; 
fidem, spem, dilectionem, iv. 12. 2; caput, pectus, venter. 



' credentibus et timentibus Deum, C. 62; zelo Dei et veritatis Cbristi, 
Ep. I (after propter timorem erga Deum et zelum veritatis, v. 3a i) ; 
ammonet et docet, C. 40; sponte et laetus, C. 32; bene et diligenter, 
C. 40. 

' spiritaliter, Ep. 4 ; fiducialiter, C. 14 ; qualiter, C- 9, 35 ; impudenter, 
Ep. 15; veraciter, C 13; inenarrabiliter, C. 4, etc. 

' e.g. sceleratissimis, Ep. 19; indignissimorum pessimorumque, Ep. 15 ; 
fortissimum scriptum, C. 1 1 ; speciosissimi atque amantissimi, Ep. 16 ; 
verbis peritissimis, C. 24; amicissimo, C. 27, 33; rusticissimus, C. i. 

* e.g. mulierculas, Ep. 1 2 ; munuscula, C. 49 ; mamellas, C. i%\ 
tegoriolum, C. 18; scriptula, C. 50; latrunculus, Ep. 12, etc. 



The Latin Translation 351 

femora, pedes, 11. 24. 4; aquam, tenebras, abyssum, chaos, 
I. 30. I. See also St Patrick'. 

(X) Desire for variety leads to alteration of words and 
phrases : 

e.g. aliud accipit vocabulum becomes aliud percipit verbum, 

V. 10. i; inservitutem redigenfes becomes in servitutem deductus, 

IV. 30. 2; putantes becomes arbitrantes, iv. 31. 2; et rursus in 

ipistola ait, ill. i6. 8, in eadem epistola clarius dicit, iii. i6. 9; 

darificetur inter gentes hecox&es glorificatur in gentibus, iv. 17. 5; 

fides, spes, et caritas, 11. 28. ^,fidem, spent et dilectionem, iv. 22. 2 • 

praeterit habitus hujus mundi (i Cor. vii. 31) iii. 35. 2 becomes 

figura transit muTidi hujus, iii. 36. i; Jesu Christi becomes 

Christo Jesu, i. 10. i; ager autem saeculum est (Mt. xiii. 38) 

IV. 40. 2, ager enim mundus est, iv. 26. ij et caeteros quem- 

admodum se, iv. 12. 2, diligere proximum sicut seipsum, 

IV. 12. 4; sicut Graeco sermone exprimitur, 11. 21. i, secundum 
Graeci sermonis s^ificantiam, 11. 21. i; remissio peccatorum . . . 
remissio delictorum, iv. 27. i; Diabolus becomes Satanas in 

V. 21 and V. 22^: id est becomes hoc est, 11. 21. 1; exivit 
becomes exiit in 11. 5. z; Johannes Baptisator, iv. 4. 2, 
becomes Baptista in iv. 7. i. To the same class belong the 
variations of ob and propter, debet and oportet, antequam 
and priusquam, nee and neque, coram and in conspectu, and 
the changes in the government of verbs, as, dominabatur nobis 
...dominabatur nostri, v. i. i; misereatur omnium, 111. 20. 2, 
universis misereatur, i. 10. 3; miseratus plasmati, v. 21. 3; 
miserans ejus, in. 23. 6, etc. 

(XI) The inf. is used after facere, venire, prohibere, 
poUiceor (with present inf.). 

(XII) Frequent use of gerundive and gerund in place of 
ut with inf.' 

1 e.g. una benedicta Scotta genetiva nobilis pulcherrima adulta, C. 41 ; 
Romanorum Gallorum Christianoram, Ep. 14 ; patricida, fratricida, lupi, 
rapaces, devorantes plebem, Ep. s; rusticus, profuga, indoctus, C. u. 

' So Patrick passes from Satanas C. 20 to Zabulus, Ep. 4. 

3 e.g. ad danda cibaria (Vg. ut det, Mt. xxiv. 45) iv. 26. j; ad 
baptizandos hos (Vg. ut baptizentur, Acts x. 47) iii. 12, 15; ad emun- 
dandam aream (Mt. iii. 12, Vg. permundabit) IV. 4.^3; cf. Patrick, caro 



352 The Latin Translation 

(XIII) Abl. for extension of time : serviens ei multis annis^ 

IV. 30. 2. Gen. of age: quadraginta annorum nondum es, 

II. 22. 6'. 

(XIV) Ace. after obliviscor and noceo' (nociti sunt,, 

V. 5. 2). 

(XV) Neuter of adj. for substantive : ad perfectum', 

IV. 39. 2, et al. ; efficabile et principale et regale, iii. 11. 8; 
suum inenarrabile, i. 14. i, etc. 

(XVI) Neuter of adjective as adverb": humilia sentire^ 

V. 22. ij altum sentiunt, iii. 25. 6; multum separata, v. 18. i. 

(XVII) Hebraisms, owing to influence of LXX., plus, 
potuisse justitia ab (IP) omnibus, i. 26. ij pluris sit idiota 
religiosus a (tP) blasphemo sophista, v. 20. i; laetifici oculi 
ejus a vino (pulchriores vino, Vg.), Gen. xlix. 10, iv. 10. 2; 
maledictus tu ab omnibus pecoribus (Vg. inter) Gen. iii. 14, 

III. 23. 3. 

(XVIII) Grecisms (principally literal translations of text), 
detegentur nihil recte dicentes, iii. 11. 7; latuit semetipsum 
incidens, 11. 33. 2 ; vestitum indumentum (Vg. veste). 
Matt. xxii. 11, iv. 36. 5; ridebis multum tantam stultitiam 
■yeXacrets itoWa. (l. 16. 3); capit (ci'8e;)(eTat), II. 13. i; qui 

sumus ab ecclesia, ol ciTro t^s eKKXijcrias, i. 6. 2; perfectorum 
perfectiores (gen. of comp.), i. 11. 5; exhomologesim faciens 
f^o/AoXoyov/Aei/os, III. 4. 2 ; prurientibus aures (ace. of part),. 
II. 21. 2; a se peccatum attulit, d^' kavrov, ultro, iii. 23. 4; 
excidere a veritate, axyjoxAv t^s dXij^cias, v. 3. i; vivum 
perfecerit virum (tertiary predicate), v. i. 3; perfectum effecit 
virum (do.) v. i. 3; perfectos eos consummavit, 11. 18. i; 
et hoc (kox Tavra, and that too), 11. 7. 7; bene habet, xaXaJs 
^X", Praef. iv. ; desinimus diligentes, iv. 12. 2; manifestus eris 

trahit ad illecebras perficiendas, C. 44; ad confirmandam fidem, C. 47; 
verba danda militibus, Ep. 1 ; dandus est ad gradum, C. 32. 

' e.g. I. 3. 1, duodecim annorum Dominus existens, of. C. i, annorum 
eram tunc fere xvi; serviens ei annis multis, IV. 30. 2; tribus diebus 
conversatus est, v. 31. i ; tempore aliquo manens, v. 12. 2 ; cum quo 
fueram annis sex, C 17; duobus mensibus eris cum illis, C. 21. 

^ Cf. caream sepulturam, C. 59 ; legationem fungor, Ep. 5. 

' Cf. ad perfectum addiderunt, C. 9. 

' Cf. Latinum exposui, Ep. 20; frequens orabam, C. 16. 



The Latin Translation 353 

projiciens, iii. 14. 3; impossibilis est homo videre Deum 
(dSwoTos eorri), IV. 20. 8 ; non est (ottii' = €|to-Tiv) numerum 
dicere, v. 3. 2 ; aliquis (tis) frequently, e.g. virtus aliqua, 

II. 2. 3; quid faciens haereditaret, iv. 12. 4; incipiens ab 
(ap^a/j.£vos aird), I. 16. i; obauditionem vult Deus quam 
sacrificia (6e\ei yj), iv. 17. i; vapulabit multas (Lk. xii. 47, 
multis Vg.) = Sapjyo-eTat iroXXas, IV. 37. 3; habuimus salvari, 

III. 20. 3; habentes^ ostendere, Praef. i; habet videri = /ucWet 
opaer^ai, IV. 38. 3. In addition to these Greek constructions 
there are a large number of Greek words simply transliterated, 
e.g. agogima, philtra, charitesia, theoremata, paredri, idolothyta, 
oneiropompi, perierga, palinodia, gazophylacium, prophetes, 
logion (Xoyfiov breastplate of priest); aporiatam (oTrop^o-ai), 
diastema, hyperbaton, m)rreadibus, romphaea, duodecastylum, 
etc. 

II. Scriptural Citations. 

I. These sometimes follow the LXX, differ frequently 
from the Vulgate and are in places followed by St Patrick : 

e.g. Prov. i. 20, 21 runs so in v. 20. i, Sophia in exitu canitur, 
in plateis autem fiducialiter agit, in summis muris praedicatur, 
in portis autem civitatis constanter loquitur. 

This is after LXX iv iioSoK vfi-veiTcu, etc. Vg. foris prae- 
dicat, in plateis dat vocem suam, in capite turbarum clamitat, 
in foribus portarum urbis profert verba sua. 

1 Sam. xii. 3 is cited in iv. 26. 3 after the LXX, respondete 
mihi in conspectu Dei et in conspectu Christi ejus, cujus 
vestrum vitulum accepi aut asinum, aut super quem potentatus 
sum, aut quem oppressi, aut si de alicujus manu accepi 
propitiationem (e^iXao-/ia) vel calceamentum (viro&rj/m), dicite 
adversus me et reddam vobis. The Vg., loquimini de me 
coram Domino, et coram Christo ejus, utrum bovem cujus- 
quam tulerim aut asinum, si quempiam calumniatus sum, si 

' Cf. baptismo quo ego habeo baptizari (Mk x. 38), I. 21. 2 (Vg. quo 
ego baptizvo). Cf. locutus sum ut haberem inde navigarem (that I might 
be able). Patrick, Conf. 18. 

H. I. 23 



354 The Latin Translation 

oppress! aliquem, si de manu cujusquam tnunus accepi, et 
contemnam illud hodie restituamque vobis. 

The Latin Irenaeus reproduces the same mistranslation 
of the Hebrew which, as we have it, does not mean either 
calceamentum (shoe, so LXX) or contemnam illud hodie, Vg. 
but " I will veil or turn away mine eyes " (D*^^K). The LXX 
confuses this with QvgJ (Amos ii. 6), shoes. 

Is. Ix. 17 in IV. 26. 5, et dabo principes tuos in pace et 
episcopos tuos in justitia, is after LXX. (Vg. et ponam visita- 
tionem tuam pacem et praepositos tuos justitiam, after Hebrew.) 

In the New Testament aV ap^^s koo-juoi) of Mt. xxiv. 21 
is rendered in v. 25. 2, ab initio saeculi. On this Mr Burkitt 
{Texts and Studies, I v. 3, p. 44) remarks that mundus and not 
saeculum is the rendering of koo-jhos in the African text of the 
Synoptic Gospels, and that this " affords a striking instance of 
the 'European' character of Iren. Lat," but, in iv. 26. i, 
Mt. xiii. 38 is rendered ager enim mundus est (in iv. 40. 2 
ager autem saeculum est). Iren. iv. 2. 6 has salvator mundi in 
John iv. 42. So Vg., mundus being the European, and 
saeculum the African rendering of Kotrfio's in St John (Burkitt, 
l.c. p. 4s). 

There are many differtences from the Vg. in the N.T., 
e.g. receptus est in caelum, 11. 32. 3 and elsewhere, but Vg. 
has assumptus est in caelum (Acts i. 1 1). Cf. Patrick, Con/. 4, 
ad Patrem receptum. 

In III. 16. 4, tunc adaperuit sensum (Lk. xxiv. 45) (Vg. 
aperuit); iii. 12. 14, cognitum a seculo est Deo (Acts xv. 18), 
Vg. notum a saeculo, shows the penchant for compound verbs 
which is a striking feature of the Latin translation. 

There are two versions of Mt. viii. 1 1. The first is influenced 
by Lk. xiii. 59, iv. 8. i, quoniam venient ab Oriente et 
Occidente, al> Aquilone et Austro (Luke) et recumbent cum 
Abraham et Isaac et Jacob in regno caelorum. This reading 
is found in the Armagh MS. of St Patrick's Confession (39). 

The second is, Multi ab Oriente et Occasu venient et 
recumbent cum Abraham et Isaac et Jacob in regno caelorum. 



The^ Latin Translation ^5 

This is put in oratio obliqua in v. 30. 3 with Occidente for 
Occasu. The Vg. reads the former. It is remarkable that 
St Patrick has the same reading in Ep. 18. 

In Mt. xii. 36 Lat. Irenaeus has, omnis sermo otiosus... 
reddent pro eo rationem, 11. 19. 1, iv. 16. 4; but Vg. "verbum" 
and "de eo," cf. Orientius 11. 311, 

Quando etiam incauto si quid nunc ore loquaris 
Sertnonis ratio est discutienda tibi. 

Rom. ix. 25 appears in a strange form in iv. 20. 12, fiat qui 
non populus, populus : et ea quae non est misericordiam conse- 
cuta, misericordiam consecuta ; et in loco liberata in quo vocabatur 
non populus, etc. The Vg. runs, vocabo non plebem plebem 
meam; et non dilectam dilectam; et non misericordiam con- 
secutam misericordiam consecutam; et erit in loco ubi dictum 
est, etc. In the N.T. Greek the " misericordiam " clause 
(of Hosea ii. 23) is absent; and in Irenaeus the "dilecta" 
clause of Vg. and Greek N.T. is wanting. Irenaeus may have 
been influenced by i Pet. ii. 10, which has the "misericordiam" 
clause of Hosea ii. 23 only. Patrick, Conf. 40, follows him. 

The expression liberata or eliberata is perhaps, as Massuet 
suggests, due to confusion of ippiOri, Rom. ix. 26 (Hos. i. 10), 
"in the place where it was said^' with lppvcr6-q, was delivered. 

In I. 10. 3 we have 6 oi \aos Xaos, xai tj ovk rjya-Trrjfji&ri 
■qyairqiievri, SO Rom. ix. 25 (Greek). So Apostolic Preaching, 
c. 93, Ich werde zu Nichtmeinvolk sagen, mein Volk bist du, 
und die Nichtgeliebte wird geliebt sein. There are variations 
accordingly in the forms in which this text appears in the Latin 
Irenaeus, which are due to various causes. However his 
citations of Eph. iv. 6, a favourite text, all agree in omitting 
TravTcov (omnium) after Father and koX after God, which are in 
Greek and Vg. So Apost. Preaching, c. 5, Ein Gott Vater, der 
da ist uber alien ; 11. 2. 6, Unus Deus Pater qui super omnes ; 
Unus Deus Pater.. .Unus Pater qui est super omnia; so 
IV. 20. 2. 

In this Irenaeus is followed by St Patrick; Ep. 11, unum 
Deum Patrem habemus; Ep. 16, unum Deum Patrem habemus. 

33—2 



356 The Latin Translation 

Phil. ii. 9 — II in I. 10. i, omne genu curvet... et omnis 
lingua confiteatur ei. Ei is not in Vg. or Greek N.T. But 
Patrick, Conf. 4, has ei after Irenaeus. 

Rev. 21. 4, et mors non erit amplius in v. 35. 2. Vg. mors 
ultra non erit. Patrick, Ep. 1 7, neque mors amplius. Amplius 
also in iii. 12. 14 where Vg. of Acts xv. 28 has ultra. 

II. Irenaeus' own quotations of the same passages show 
considerable divergence from each other, and generally one of 
each set is closer to the Vg. than the others. 

Mt. xxiv. 21 : (i) erit tunc pressura magna qualis non est facta 
ab initio saeculi usque nunc, sed neque fiet(v. 25. 2). (2) erit 
tribulatio qualis non est facta ab initio neque fiet (v. 29. i). 
(3) erit terrae motus magnus qualis non est factus ab initio 
(iv. 33. 13). Vg. erit enim tunc tribulatio magna qualis non 
fuit ab initio mundi neque fiet. 

I Cor. vii. 31 : figura transit mundi hujus, v. 36. i; praeterit 
enim habitus hujus mundi, v. 35. 2. Vg. praeterit enim figura 
hujus mundi. 

Eph. i. 21: super omne initium (a^yy{v), iv. 19. 2; super 
omnem principalitatem, 11. 30. 9; super omnem principatum, 
IV. 24. 2. Vg. principatum. 

I Pet. i. 8 : quem non videntes diligitis, in quem nunc non 
videntes credidisti, gaudebitis gaudio inenarrabili, iv. 9. 2; 
quem cum non videritis diligitis, in quem nunc quoque non 
videntes creditis, credentes autem, exultabitis gaudio ine- 
narrabili, V. 7. 2. So Vg. with laetitia for gaudio. 

1 Pet. i. 12: in quae (ets a) cupiunt angeli prospicere, 
II. 17. 9; quem concupiscunt angeli videre, v. 36. 3; in quem 
desiderant angeli prospicere, Vg. 

2 Thess. i. 6 sq. : retribuere eis qui tribulant vos tribula- 
tionem; et vobis qui tribulamini requiem, iv. 33. 10; retribuere 
retributionem...refrigerium, iv. 27. 4. Vg. retribuere tribula- 
tionem iis qm.... requiem. 

Titus iii. 10: haereticum autem homineva post unam correp- 
tionem devita, iii. 3. 4j post primam et secundum, i. 16. 3. 
So Vg. 



The Latin Translation 557 

The Greek text of in. 3. 4 (Euseb. H.E. iv. 14) has koX 
8evTepav^ But compare haereticum post primam correptionem 
recusandum, Tert. Be Praes. 6. So Cyprian, ad Quir. in. 78. 

Mt. xix. 16: remitte mortuos sepelire mortuos, i. 8. 3; 
sinite enim mortuos..., v. 9. 1; sine ut mortui sepeUant 
mortuos (Vg.); a<^£s...6ai/rat, cf. Vg.'s use of sinere, sinite abire 
(ai^£T€ uVayeiv), John ii. 44; but dimittite abire, Iren. v. 13. i. 

Lk. ii. 29: gratias egit Deo et dixit, Nunc remittis servum 
tuum secundum sermonem tuum in pace, i. 8. 4; benedixit 
Deum et ait, Nunc dimittis servum tuum... in pace, iv. 7. i, 
III. 10. 5; benedixit Deum et ait, Nunc dimittis servum tuum, 
Domine, secundum verbum tuum in pace, in. 16. 3 and Vg. 

The Lat. Iren. favours remittere, e.g. in. 18. 5, Pater 
remitte eis (Vg. dimitte), Lk. xxiii. 34; in. 12. 3, remittere 
(Vg. dimitti) of Acts iii. 13. 

John iv. 37: sermo est verus quoniam alter quidem est qui 
seminat, alter qui metet, iv. 25. 3; est sermo verus quoniam 
alius est qui seminat et alius qui metit, iv. 23. i. So Vg. with 
verbum for sermo and quia for quoniam, both frequent in 
Lat. Iren. 

John viii. 44: diabolus mendax et ab initio, v. 22. 2; ab 
initio homicida et..., v. 23. 2; ille homicida erat ab initio, Vg. 

Acts viii. 32: quemadmodum ovis ad victimam ductus est, 
et quemadmodum agnus in conspectu tondentis. . .judicium abla- 
tum, IV. 23. 2; tanquam ovis ad victimam (v. 1. occisionem) ductus 
est, quemadmodum agnus ante tondentem se...nativitatem quis 
enarrabit, iii. 12. 8 ; ibid., ut ovem ad victimam ductum ; 
IV- 33- ij sicut ovis ad victimam adductus. Vg. tanquam ovis 
ad occisionem, et sicut agnus coram tondente se.. .judicium 
sublatum...generationem quis enarrabit. 

Rom. xiii. i : quae (potestates) sunt a Deo dispositae sunt, 
V. 24. i; quae sunt potestates a Deo ordinatae sunt, iv. 36. 6. 
So Vg. 

' Harvey suggests that et alteram may have been omitted to bring the 
pass^e into harmony with the old Italic version: it is more likely that 
the Greek was revised by Eusebius. 



358 The Latin Translation 

There are no less than four different versions of the passage 
which Justin Martyr accused the Jews of having removed from 
Jeremiah (Cum Tryph. 72), viz. iii. 20. 4, et commemoratus 
est Dominus sanctus Israel mortuorum suorum qui dormierant 
in terra sepultionis; et descendit ad eos evangelisare salutem 
quae est ab eo ut salvaret eos. See also iv. 33. 12, iv. 22. i, 
IV. 33. I. In the first " Israel " only is found, and there are 
several other divergences in the four versions. This very fact 
is a significant index of the method of free quotation followed 
in the treatise. Mr Harvey's suggestion that a Syriac version 
of the treatise existed at one time has been supported by the 
discovery of an Armenian version of the tract on Apostolic 
Preaching which may have been rendered directly from the 
Syriac. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Editions of the Treatise by Massuet, Stieren, and Harvey, 
Articles in Herzog's Real-Encyklopddie and the Dictionary of 
Christian Biography by Zahn and Lipsius respectively; the 
second volume of the History of Dogma by Dr Harnack; his 
edition of the Apostolic Preaching and his critique of the Pfaff 
Fragments in Texte und Untersuchungen; Kunze's Gotteslehre 
von Irendus; Werner's Paulinismus des Irendus; Loofs' Hand- 
schriften der Lateinischen t/iersetzung (iSSS); Heinrich Ziegler's 
Bischof von Lyon (1871), and Lehre von der Autoritdt der Schrift, 
etc. Lipsius, Die Zeit des Irendus ; Harnack, Gebhardt und Zahn, 
Altchristliche Literatur B. vi. (1889). The writings of Lightfoot 
and Westcott, Stewart Means' Saint Paul and the Ante-Nicene 
Church. Articles by Drs Rendel Harris and Conybeare in 
the Expositor (1907), on the Apostolic Preaching, and by the 
present writer on the Creed (1907), and Apostolic Preaching 
(1908) of Irenaeus, in Hermathena, and Apostolic Preaching 
(1907) m. Journal of Theological Studies, etc., etc. 



GENERAL INDEX 



Acts, The, mentioned by Irenaeus, 

■220 

Adkm 

our organic union with, 162 etsq. 

disobedience of, 165 

salvation of, 165 

praevaricatio of, 175 
Adon, Bishop, list of, 8 
Adversus Haereses, treatise 

Hamack's appreciation of, 44 

titles of, 46 

Latin translation of, 347 et sq. 

Latin MSS. of, 46 et sq. 

quotations from, 50 
Aeons, theory of, 41 
Agrapha, the, used by Gnostics, 

198 
Alexander, martyr, 5 
Altar, the heavenly, 273 
Ambrose, Bishop, De Mysteriis of, 

277 
diiaKe^aXaibKris, 29, 131. See re- 

capitulatio 
Anatolius, 12 

Anicetus, of Rome, 3, 7, 12, 252 
Anselm 

a priori proof of, 100 

theory of satisfaction, 173 

influenced by Feudalism, 174 

on the death of Christ, 175 
Anthropomorphism, protest against, 

98 
Antinomianism, 293 
Apocalypse, the, 233, 310, etc. 
Apocalyptic, 190 
ApoUinarian error, 134 
Apologists, the Christian, 20, 27, 

34. 36. 158 
Apostasia, the, 168 et sq., 308 
Apostolic Constitutions, the, 282 



Apostolic Preaching, the, of Irenaeus 

described in c. XVI I 

Dr Harnack on, 312 et sq. 

article in Hermathena on, 124 

see further 13, 114, n6, 120, 121 
Arianism, 157 

Arians, their views of the Logos, 143 
d^papiliv (arrha), the Holy Spirit 

as, iig, 153 
Arundel manuscript, 48 et sq. 
Athanasius 

on " the Hand " of God, 107 

on the Son, 1 1 r 

on the Word of God, 125, 154 
et sq. 

on the mutilation of the Scrip- 
tures, 236 

on the Atonement, 177 

on the Divinity of Man, 168 

on the Divine consistency, 173 
Athenagoras, 33 
Attalus, martyr, s 
Atonement, the 

how connected with Incarnation, 
c. X 

mercy motive of, 176 

reconciliation as aspect of, 178 
Augustine, of Hippo, 17 

quotes Irenaeus, 44, 147 

on Communion with God, 81 

on Predestination, 84 

On Original Sin, 44 

Confessions of, T03, 105 

on sin, 161 

on the Devil, 170 et sq. 

on prophecy, 187 

on the Old and New Testaments, 
202, 207 

on the African use, 273 
oiTe^ouff/a, Justin's word, 30 



36o 



Index 



Baptism, Holy, 264 et sq. 

the grace of, 265 

Gnostic forms of, 266 et sq. 
Baptismal regeneration, 28, 266 
Barnabas, letter of, 2 1 
Baruch, Apocalypse of, 26 
Basil, 19, III 
Basilides, Gnostic, 39 
Besanyon connected with Irenaeus, 10 
Bezae, codex, 41 
Biblical views of Irenaeus, c. xi 
Bishops 

succession of, 242, 251 

relation of to presbyters, 256 et sq. 
Blandina, martyr, 5 
Blastus, letter to, 12 
Bohringer, Dr, quoted, 161 
Browning, Robert, 62, 143, 144 
Butler, Bishop, Analogy of, 97 
Bythos, the, of Gnostics, 91 

Cabala, Jewish, 15 
Cambridge, Platonists of, 34, 102 
Canon, the, of the New Testament, 
c. XII 

Hamack on the Canon of Ire- 
naeus, 213 
Catechism, the Anglican 

questions on the Eucharist, 271 
et sq. 

compared with Apostolic Preach- 
ing, 326 et sq. 
Catholic 

the Church and heretics, 68 

Epistles, the, 230 et sq. 
Catholicity of the Church, 246 
Charismata, 260 
Charismatic ministry, 259 et sq. 
Charity, eulogy of, 249 
Chiasmus, figure of, in Latin trans- 

lation, 155, 349 
Chiliasm, 5, 42, 307 
Christ 

Socrates and, 27 

Justin's views of, 33 

the Blood of, 179 

the humanity of, 154 

suffering of, 159 

man's organic union with, 160 

sufferings of, real, 163 

Gnostic views of, 133 

revelation of (Ritschl), 148 



Christian Science, 15, 38 

compared with Gnosticism, 336 
et sq. 
Christianity and Judaism, 206 
Christology, centre of Irenaeus' 

system, 128 
Church, the 

teaching and faith of, 68 et sq. 

as teaching body, 192 

teachers of, different from Gnostics, 

71. 183 

rule of truth of, 183 

depository of the truth, 242 

unity of faith of, 243 

Apostolic descent of, 244 

six points of union of, 245 

catholicity of, 246 

sanctity of, 247 

testimony of, 247 

unity of, 248 

Sacraments of, c. XIV 

notes of, c. xiii 
Church, the late Dean, on the 

Episcopate, 263 
Clement, of Alexandria 

Stromateis o{, quoted, 16, 21, 159 

on the Gospels, 215 

on the Testaments, 201, 207 

use of wpo^opiKds, 142 
Clement, of Rome 

on O.T. types, 186 

use of Epistle to Hebrews, 230 
Clermont, the MS., 48 et sq. 
Commodus, reign of, 18, 45 
Convmire, meaning of 252 
Creation, various parts of, 88 
Crescens, first bishop of Vienne, 8 
Cyprian, ii, 44 
Cyril, 17 

Death 
the Death of Christ, 175 
a theme of Irenaeus, 161 
a bloody death in the Economy 
of Incarnation, 179 
Debt 
the, to death, 163 
and disobedience, 162 
Decalogue, the, enjoins love of 

God, s6 
Demiurge, the, of the Gnostics, 90, 
193. 332 



Index 



.361 



Denney,Dr,i'^rf8MZ» Theology, 135 
Development, God-directed, 82 
Dionysius of Alexandria, on the 

Apocalypse, 233 
Dionysius the Areopagite, Eccle- 
siastical Hierarchy of, 269 
Disobedience 

and death, 162 

mitigated by Christ, 181 
Domitian, 2 
Duchesne (L'Abbe), 4 

Earnest, the, of Spirit {ifi^a^iiv), 

153 
Ebionites and Gospel of Mat thew,2 1 2 
Eddy, Mrs Baker, 37, 197, 338 
Education of man, c. IV 
Egyptians 

Gospel of, 212 

Hebrews and, 189 
fiocXijffis (evocatio), Hamack on use 

of, 271 
Eleutherus, of Rome, 5, 6, 45, 253 
Ely, Bishop of, 233 
Emanations, theory of, 36 
^KSidSeroSjUsedby Philoof Logos, 142 
England, connection of with I., 48 
Epicureans, Gnostics compared 

with, 82 
iirlK\ri<ns (invocatio), 271 
Epiphanes, error with regard to 

name, 43 
Epiphanius, 39, 45, 227 
Episcopate 

Dean Church on, 263 

the historic, 255 et sq. 
iTrl(TKoiros, meaning of, 259 
Erasmus, 16, 43, 231 
Eucharist, the, 28 

a daily, 273 

Irenaeus' doctrine of, 270 et sq. 

two realities of, 276 

Justin's view of, 272 

Tertullian's view of, 277 

four steps in service, 278 
Eusebius, i, 5, 7, 10, 13, 16, 25, 

31, 42, 45, 215, 229, 253 
Eutyches, monophysitism of, 130 
eirxapurreiv , meaning of, 279 
Eve 

and Mary contrasted, 137 

disobedience of, 147 



Evolution, 82 
Exodus, the, 189 

Fall, the, teleological significance 

of. 59 
Father 
the omnipotent, c. vi et al. 
Parent truth of theology, 78 
Wisdom of, 86 
the creator, 80 
the Perfect One and invariable, 

83 

Architect of World, 83 

revelation of, in Incarnation, 155 

relation to Divine Son, in 

Monarchia of, 125 

the Son "the visible" of, 133 
Feuardent, 231 
Florinus, letter on " the Ogdoad" to, 

12 
Foreknowledge and Predestinating 

Will of God, 83 
Freedom of Will 

man's, a test of character, 291 

image of God as, 290 

freedom of maintained by I., 85 

Galilean 

Christianity, 3 et sq. 

churches, letters to, 7 
Gnostic 

teachers different from Church, 7 1 

views on Christ, 1 33 et sq. 

Soteriology, 328 et sq. 

canons and exegesis, 234 et sq. 
Gnosticism 

Marcionite, 16 et sq., 331 et sq. 

Valentinian, 16 et sq., 322 et sq. 

ancient and modern, c. XVIII 

"a motley Christianity" (Ter- 
tullian), 35 

on suffering of Jesus, 163 

appeal to tradition, 196 

use of Scriptures, 197 

cryptic allusions of, 240 

division of men, 293 

Irenaeus' controversy vrith, 197, 
et passim 
Gnostics 

the first theologians (Hamack), 36 

on the knowledge of God, 98 et 
sq. 



362 



Index 



God 

man's need of, 8i 

Will (creative, beneficent, pur- 
poseful) of, 83 et sq. 

relation of justice to goodness of, 
85 et sq. 

divided by Marcion, 85 

subjection to, immortality, 288 

Irenaeus' view of, 86 et sq. 

absolute causality of, 89 

perfect knowledge of, 89 

Tennyson on nature of, 90 

Biblical names for, 193 

image and likeness of, 287 

personality of, 297 

man's knowledge of, c. vii 

Gnostics on, 98 et sq. 

the name of, 99 

immensa benignitas of, loi 

unity of, 201 
Godhead, the, the Divine Persons of, 

t. vm 
Gore, Bishop, on Transubstantia- 

tion, 277 
Gospel 

law and, 208 et sq. 

privileges of, 210 

four-formed {Terpd/xop^ov)^ 215 

of Peter, 215 

advance beyond law, 57 
Gospels, 215 et sq. 

apocryphal, 215 

harmonies of, 215 

reasons for there being four, 216 
Grabe, editor of Irenaeus, 49, 255 
Gregory the Great, Moralia of, 1 70 
Gregory (Nazianzen), 142 

on the ransom-theory, 171 
Gregory (of Nyssa), on devil as 

deceiver, 170 
Gregory (Thaumaturgus), 132 
Gregory (of Tours), 8, 10, 17 

Hands of the Father, 125 
Harnack, Prof., 23, 24, 29, 36, 40, 
44. 67, 117 
on Irenaeus' views of the Holy 

Spirit, 122 
on Irenaeus' use of the Logos-idea, 

128, 156 
on Irenaeus' views of sin, 161 
on I.'s theory of revelation, 200 



Hamack, Prof. 

on the Apostolic Preaching, 3i2 
et sq. 

on the Canon in Irenaeus, 213 

on the Pfa6f fr^ments, 281 

on baptismal views of Irenaeus, 269 
Harris, Prof. Rendel, 315 
Harvey, editor of Irenaeus, 2, 49, 

142, 149, 154, 223 
Hatch, Dr, 259 
Hebrews, Epistle to, 229 
Hegesippus 

Memoirs of, 31, 253 

lost work of, 37 
Hell, the clause "He descended 

into," 69 
Hermas, Pastor of, 20 
Hippolytus (of Portus), 7, 46, 50 

Contra Noetum, \\i, 123 

Philosophumena, r68 
Homer quoted, 43 
Homoousion, the, 76, 139 
Horace, echoes of, 43 
Hort, Dr, on the Apocalypse, 238 
Hosea, 188 

Hyginus, Bishop of Rome, 252 
Hypostatic Union, 149 

Ignatius, 9, 22, 23 

Epistles of, 22-23 

language of, on Incarnation, 131 

words ascribed to, 306 
Immortality, subjection to God, 80 
Incarnation, the 

doctrine of, 28, c. ix 

revelation of Father, one reason 
for, 155 

and a bloody death, 179 

and incorruption, 152 

Irenaeus' formula for, 133 

Ritschlian views on, 134 

economy of, 1 79 

Christian Apologists on, 158 
Incorruption 

and incarnation, 152 

man made partaker of, 1 80 
Inspiration 

and private judgement, 193 

St Paul's, 155 
Interpretation 

mystical, 21, 30, 183 

Irenaeus' principle of, 31 



Index 



■363 



Interpretation 

Origan's principle of, 186 
Invocation of Holy Spirit, 270 
Irenaeus 

and Pothinus, 7 

and Montanists, 6 

and Quartodecimans, 1 1 

and Marcion, 15 

and the Keltae, 1 6 

his letter to Victor, 12 

his letter to Florinus, 12 

his writing to Marcianus (Apos- 
tolic Preaching)^ 13 

the Pfaff fragments, 13, 281 et sq. 

martyrdom of, uncertain, 17 

teachers of, c. n 

Irish Church and Irenaeus, 77 

on revelation, 155, 181 

on the Atonement, c. X 

mystical interpretation of, 2 1 

his theology, Christ centre of, 23 

Polycarp's influence on, 24 

St Paul's influence on, 24, 221 

Papias' influence on, 25, 217, 310 

Justin Martyr's influence on, 27-29 

influence of certain presbyters on, 

and Marcus the heretic, 32 

treatise of, c. in et passim 

theology of, outcome of vfhat ?, 36 

as Scripture theologian, 40 

success of the treatise of, 40 

and the Gnostics, 41 et sq. 

rule of faith of, 41 

a Greek Father, 43 

Greek text of treatise of, 43 

Latin MSS. of treatise, 44 et sq. 

heresy of Montanus, 45 

Reformation studies in, 48 

creed of, 66, c. xix 

on immortality, 154, 288 

his influence on St Patrick, 77 

on Marcion's views of God, 85 

his own view of God, 86 et sq. 

on prsictical problems, 89 

avoids speculative questions, 89 

on the Creator, 90 et sq. 

on the Supreme God of Gnostics, 

Johannme view of l^ogos, 127 

on redemption, 128 

on the Virgin, 136 et sq. 



Irenaeus 

on the Virgin-birth, 144 et sq. 

doctrine of sin, x6i 

on the suffering of Jesus, 164 

no idea of compensation, 171 

on the Death of Christ, 175 

on the Scriptures and their 

problems, c. XI 
on tradition, 196 et sq. 
controversy with Gnosticism, 197, 

304 

early witness of the N.T., 214 

on the four Gospels, 216 

on St Mark's Gospel, 216 

use of Pauline Epistles, 221 

combined readings of, 225 

on schismatics, 248 

on charity, 249 

on the continuity and orders of 

the Ministry, c. xiv 
lectures Victor Bp of Rome, 252 
use of term presbyter, 255 
on the charismata of the Church, 

260 
on Baptismal Regeneration, 266 
on the grace of Baptism, 269 
on the Eucharist, 270 et sq. 
psychology of, 283 
on the image and likeness of God, 

296 
on the freewill of man, 292 et sq. 
on the salvation of man, 298 et sq. 
eschatology of, 307 et sq. 
creed of, reconstructed, c. XIX 
character of, 343 et sq. 
Irenaeus, of Sirmium, 1 7 
Irish 

Church, 77 
baptism, 269 

Jerome, 13, 16, 17, 42 
Jerusalem, Church of, 69, 273 
Jesus, the ' ' dispensational ' ' of Gnos- 
tics, 134 
Johannine conception of Logos, 

127 et sq. 
John, the Disciple, 26 

Gospel of, 217 

Revelation of, 232 et sq. 
John, Presbyter, 25 
Joseph, descent of, 146 
Judaism and Christianity, 206 



364 



Index 



Judgement, private, and inspiration, 
^ 193 

Justin Martyr, 5, 7, 27, 29, 30, 33, 
116 

Apology of, 27 et sq. 

book against Marcion, 28 

lost syntagma of, 37 

one of his ideas, 122 

on types, 186 et sq. 

on "the president," 258 

on Baptism, 265 

on the Eucharist, 272 

Kant, Antinomies of, 91 
Keltae, the, 11, 16 
Kenoma, the, of Gnostics, 94 
Kenosis, the, views of, 143 
KKijpos, 6, whence clergy, 260 
Kunze, criticism of Irenaeus, 141 

Latham on the O. and N. Testa- 
ments, 206 
Latin 

translation of Treatise examined, 
346 et sq. 

age of do., 44 
Laver, the, of regeneration, 265 
Law, the Mosaic, 57, 208 et sq. 
Leo the Great, on the debt to the 

devil, 171 
Leonidas, the father of Origen, 102 
Liddon on episcopacy, 255 
Life, theme of Irenaeus, 161 
Lightfoot, Bp, 2, 4 
Logos 

Johannine use of Logos-idea a 
compromise (Harnack), 128 

TertuUian on, 127 

see Word 
Loofs, Dr, on Latin MSS. of the 

Treatise, 44, 46 et sq. 
Lotze on the human personality, 296 
Lugdunum (Lyon), 3, 16 
Luke, St 

Gospel of, 220 

"we-sections of," in Acts, 220 

Magnesians, Ignatius' letter to, 22 

et sq. 
Malachi, prophecy of, 272 
Man 
made for growth, 203 



Man 

God the goal of his life, 204 
tripartite division of, 283 et sq. 
progress of, 310 

Marcianus, Apostolic Preaching sent 

to. 315 
Marcion, the Gnostic 
his treatment of Scriptures, 211, 

Canon of, 227 

system of, 331 
Marcionites 

on the Creator, 84 

on the God of Judaism, 85 
Marcosians, Gnostic sect, 212 
Marcus (Aurelius), 3 
Marcus (Gnostic), 9, 32 
Marlyrologium Romatmm, 17 
Mary, the Virgin. See Virgin 
Massilia, port of, 4 
Massuet (editor of Irenaeus), 17, 

47. 203, 23s, 274 
Matthew, Gospel of 

used by Ebionites, 212 

Irenaeus on, 216 
Maximus (of Turin), 13 
Means, Rev. Stewart, St Paul and 
the Ante-Nicene Church, 197, 
208 
Milan (Church), Baptism, 266 
Ministry 

the charismatic, 259 

continuity and orders of, c. XIV 
Montanist heresy, 4 et sq. 

Irenaeus and, 6, 45 

rejection of the Gospel of St John, 
211 

repudiation of St Paul, 236 
More (Henry), 102 
Moscow (MS.), postscript of, 2, 25 
Moses, Ethiopian wife of, 188 
Muratorian fragment, 211, 214 
Mythology (Egyptian), 15 

Newman (John), work on Atha- 

nasius, 107, 108, 123 
Nicaea (Creed of), 65 

Obedience of Christ, 180 et passim 
Offering of the Church in Eucharist, 

273 et sq. 
Ophites, the, 212 



Index 



365 



Origen 

First Principles of, 42 

on Divine education, 64 

quotes Plato, 82 

on the Divine character, 87 

on the Creation, 88 

on the absolute causality of God, 89 

on the perfect knowledge of God, 
89 

on the difficulties in the Scrip- 
tures, 96 

on the Trinity, 1 26 

on the ransom-theory, 168 et sq. 

on the ultimate salvation of the 
Devil, 170 

on the compensation-theory, 173 

on the Ophites, 212 

on inspiration, 193 

on inspiration of O.T., 205 

on the interpretation of O.T., 186 

on the Epistle to the Hebrews, 229 

on salvation, 308 
Oxenham, Catholic Doctrine of 
Atonement, 172, 175 

Papias, 5, 25 

influence on Irenaeus, 216, 310 
Paschal controversy, 1 1 
Patrick, St, influence of Irenaeus 

on. 77i 348 et seq. 
Paul, St 

theology of, 130 

style of, 194 

Epistles of, 221 et sq., 235 

repudiated by Montanists, 235 
Peter (St), Epistles of, 230 et sq. 
Pfafif 

fragments of, referred to, 232 

fi-agments of, refuted, 281 et sq. 
Pharaoh, 84 
Philemon, Epistle to, not quoted by 

Irenaeus, 229 
Philippi, letter to Church of, 9 
Philonic, the distinction regarding 

Logos, 142 
Philosophy, Greek, 15 
Photius, 40, 42, 46, 229 
Pistis Sophia, the, 326, 331 
Plato 

distinction of yii>cai.s and oiffla, 145 

more pious than Marcion, 82 

heretics inferior to, 82 



Platonists, Cambridge, 34, 102 
Pleroma, theory of, 36 
Polycarp, i, /, 3, 24, 232 

letter of, 25 
Polycrates of Ephesus, 1 1 
Portare Deum, meaning of, Ii8, 147 
Potentior principalitas, meaning of, 

252 
Pothinus (of Lugdunum), 3, 5 

Irenaeus presbyter of, 7 
Praevaricatio, meaning of, 175 
Prayers 

to the Trinity, 123 

directed to " the heavenly altar," 
273 

for the Lord's Advent, 275 
Predestinating, the will of God, 83 
Presbyter, Irenaeus' use of term. 

Presbyters, line of, 251 

irpojgoXciJs, i, of the Father (Greg. 
Naz.), 116 

jt/io/SoXt) Iprolatio), 116, 141 (pro- 
test against) 

Prolatio, 116, 141 

Prophecy, Incarnation fulfilment of, 
158 

irpotl>optK6s, of the Logos, 142 

Propitiatio, as used by TertuUian, 
160 

Psychology, the, of I. , 283 et sq. 

Pythagorean numbers, 15 

Quartodecimans, the, ii 

Recapitulation, doctrine of, 29, 50, 

172, 179 
Reconciliation 

aspect of, in Atonement, 178 et sq. 

universal, 181 
Redemption, 128, 144 
Reformation, the, 48 
Regeneration 

laver of, 265 

Baptismal, 28, 266 
Regulaefidei. See Rules of faith 
Renunciation, Baptismal, 265 
Revealer, the Son, of the Father, 

129, 156 
Revelation 

one reason for Incarnation, 155 

the, of Christ, 148 



366 



Index 



RitscW 

on the kenosis, 143 

on the revelation of Christ, 148 
Ritschlian views on Incarnation, 134 
Romans, Epistle to, 229 
Rome, Church of, 8 

bishops of, 45. .■253 

potentior principalitas of, 252 

creed of, 66 
Ropes, 3 
Rule of faith 

Irenaeus', c. v 

reconstruction of, 65, 340 et sq. 

early summaries of, 76 

Nicene form of, 76 

Gnostic rules, 67 

Sabellianism, 142, 157 
Sacerdos 

use of term, 261 

summus, 266 
Sacraments of the Church, c. xv 
Salvation 

Irenaeus' thoughts on, 298 et sq. 

comprehensive, 303 

universal economy of, 182 
Sanctification in the Eucharist, 280 
Sanctus, martyr, 5 
Sanday, Dr, 41 

inspiration-theory of Irenaeus, 194 
Satan 

Justin on, 29 

conquest of, 172 

salvation of, 170 
Satisfaciio, as used by TertuUian, 160 
Schismatics, 248 
Scriptures 

spiritual nature of, 183 

difficulties of, 184, 194 

interpretation of, 184 

reading and punctuation of, 191 

authority of, 195 

organic union and continuity of, 
200 

unity of, based on unity of God, 
201 

vague use of term, 226 
Serapion, of Antioch, 215 
Severus, persecutor, 17 
Sha'al (Hehxtvi), meaning of, 189 
Shakspeare, 86 
Simon, father of heretics, 38 



Sin 

kept in background, 161 

reality of, 163 

condemnation and conquest of, 
163 et sq. 

death of, r73 
aKrjvo^aTovv, meaning of, 117 
Smyrna, letter to Church of, 8 
Socrates and Christ, 27 
Son of God, 107 et sq. 
Spirit, the Holy 

educational work of, 58 

Divine Person of Trinity, 1 08 et sq . 

the Giver of life (fuoTroioCx), no 

Basil's work on, in 

how related to the Son, 115 

the earnest of incorruption, 1 19 

His work of regeneration, 119 

Harnack on Personality of, in 
Irenaeus, 121 et sq. 

Personality of, 125 

the communication of Christ, 243 

invocation of, in Eucharist, 271 

to whom given, 287 

in the salvation of man, 301 et sq. 
Suadela, the, 171 
Swedenborg, 37 

system of^ 335 et sq. 
Swete, Professor, Apocalypse of, 233 
Syriac, 49 

theory of Syriac translation, 223 

Tatian 

as teacher, 30 

letter of, to Greeks, 33 

heresy of, 45 
TertuUian, 7, 16, 35, 66 

work against Valentinus, 44 

De Praescriptionibus, 49, 168 

on the Roman creed, 66 

on testimony of soul naturally 
Christian, 92 

on the Logos, 127 

legal terms of, 160 

on heretic women, 339 

on St Paul's inspiration, 195 

method with heretics, 198 et sq. 

on Marcion, 211 

on the continuity of Church, 245 

challenge to Gnostics, 251 

on Baptism, 266 

on the Bread, ' figura corporis,' 277 



Index 



. 367 



Testament, the New 
compared with Old, 199 
from same Author, 202 
difference between, 204 
key of Old, 205 
Canon of, c. XII 
authority of, 224 

Testament, the Old 
inspiration of, 205 
contains types of New, 185 
subordinated to New, 200 
compared with New, 199 
purpose of, 204 

Theodoret, 10 

Theodotion, version of, 45 

Theology, 19 et sq. 

Theophilus, 142 

Theosophy and Gnosticism, 333 
et sq. 

Timotheus, Epistles to, cited by 
Irenaeus, 222 

Translation, Latin. See Excursus 

Transubstantiation, 277 

Tribulation, meaning of, 305 

Trinity, the Holy, c. viii 

Tulloch quoted, 34 

Types, 186 

Unity of God, and unity of Scrip- 
tures, 201 

Valence, associated with Irenaeus, 10 
Valentinian Gnosticism, 13 et sq. 
Valentinus, 35 

threefold principle of interpreta- 
tion, 193, 238 

Veritatis Evangelium, 227 

on salvation, 308 
Vaughan (Henry), 51, 64 



Victor (of Rome), 2, 11, 252 
Vienna, Church of, 4 

bishops of, 8 
Virgin, the, 134, 136 et sq. 

obedience of, 147 

Our Lord's humanity from, 145 
Virgin-birth, the 

heresies on, 133 

Irenaeus on, 138, 144 et sq. 
Vossianus, codex, 17, 47 

Warren, F., Liturgy of Celtic 

Church, 3 
Wendt, Prof., 59 
Werner, Paulinismus des Irendus, 

24, 221, 226 et sq. 
Westcott (Bishop), essays of, 321 
Whately, Archbishop, 199 
Whichcote, 18, 34, 51, 04, 97, 107, 

296, 3". 345 
Will, freedom of, 85 
Wisdom, the, of Solomon, 13 
Word, the, of God, c. Ill 
pre-existence of, 139 
immanence of, 139 
generation of, 140 et sq. 
Sermo Dei, Ratio Dei, 141 
Wordsworth (Bishop) 

on the charismatic ministry, 66 
on Irenaeus' use of presbyter and 

bishop, 257 
on Dr Hatch's explanation of 

"bishop," 259 
on the prayer for the Lord's 

Advent, 275 
on Transubstantiation, 277 

Zahn, i, 214 

Marcellus of Ancyra, 127 



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